Peter Thiel accuses Pope Leo XIV of being a Chinese communist agent over AI

Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, co‑founder of Palantir and PayPal, spoke at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado and claimed that Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, was unintentionally serving Chinese interests by urging stronger international regulation of artificial intelligence. Thiel warned that a “democratic‑socialist takeover” of the U.S. Democratic Party was imminent and delivered his remarks on a non‑recorded panel alongside political scientist Francis Fukuyama.

The pope’s recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, calls for AI to be “disarmed” and for greater global oversight, which Thiel cited as evidence of the Vatican’s alignment with Chinese policy goals. The comments link a religious leader’s AI stance to geopolitical concerns about China’s influence.