Anthropic’s engagement with the Vatican centers on AI ethics and the unresolved question of machine consciousness, with the May 25, 2026, launch of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas* marking the most prominent recent meeting. Chris Olah represented the company on the dais while privately lobbying advisers to soften the document’s categorical rejection of AI awareness or moral status, a stance that remained unchanged. Since fall 2025, Anthropic has hosted NDA-bound sessions with Catholic and other religious thinkers to explore moral formation for Claude and interpretability findings on internal model states. Recent October 2026 reporting on these efforts highlights persistent doctrinal friction but also shared interest in safety and human flourishing, keeping open the possibility of further high-level contact before year-end resolution thresholds.