Hospitals are weaving AI into clinical and administrative work at speed.

A new papal encyclical urges leaders to weigh how those tools are used, not only what they can do.

Writing in Fierce Healthcare, Gregory J. Krabacher and James P. Flynn of Epstein Becker Green examined Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and what its treatment of artificial intelligence means for health care organizations, faith-based and otherwise. Krabacher is a Member of the Firm whose practice covers privacy, AI governance, and data protection; Flynn is the firm's Managing Director and a Member of the Firm whose practice covers intellectual property, litigation, and regulatory disputes.

Although the encyclical carries no legal force, the authors explain that it offers a governance-first framework that lines up with where health care AI rules are already heading. They draw out three takeaways: adopt a deliberate, governance-first posture toward new AI tools; audit those tools for bias, discrimination, and privacy risks; and keep human judgment and accountability at the center of care.

Krabacher and Flynn tie each point to duties health systems already carry, including HIPAA, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, and a growing set of state AI rules, as well as to vendor contracting. Organizations that can show how human judgment stays primary, how accountability is traced, and how patient dignity is protected, they argue, will be better placed than those that rush adoption.

Get in Touch

To discuss this perspective, contact Gregory J. Krabacher at GKrabacher@ebglaw.com or James P. Flynn at jflynn@ebglaw.com.

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