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Professor Federica Genovese of Oxford, Professor Lorenzo Crippa of Strathclyde, and veteran journalist Dave Vetter join host Richard Delevan to discuss Magnifica Humanitas, the papal encyclical being published Monday 25th May 2026. In an unprecedented step, Pope Leo will personally launch the encyclical, joined by theologians, ethicists, and Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah. Genovese and Crippa discuss their research paper, Papal Dividends, which looked at past encyclicals including Laudato Si: Care for our Common Home released by Pope Francis in 2015 and how they affected the market value of companies in sectors mentioned by the encyclical. The Vatican has worked on AI ethics issues for years, but this will be a defining moment of Leo's year-old papacy, tying in concerns about the place of humans in the economy and society, the climate impacts of data centres, the use of AI in warfare including current conflicts in Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran.

At a time when the backlash against AI is building, Eric Schmidt and others booed at commencement addresses when mentioning AI, and Peter Thiel going to Rome to accuse anyone trying to slow AI down as 'the antichrist', how will Magnifica Humanitas be received?

00:00 AI as Defining Issue

00:38 Pope Leo’s AI Encyclical

02:21 Can Encyclicals Move Markets

06:04 Media Backlash and Polarization

11:06 Measuring the Market Impact

13:46 AI Bubble and Investor Stakes

16:11 How Leo XIV Might Land

20:28 Legitimacy and Public Trust

28:00 Thiel Rome and AI Warfare

34:12 What to Watch Next Week

Read Genovese and Crippa's research, Papal Dividends: https://lorenzo-crippa.github.io/files/papal_dividends.pdf

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Former British diplomat Arthur Snell is about to publish a book that explains how climate is rapidly changing the geographic assumptions on which geopolitics is built.

Buy it now — Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive It.

But first, check out this Wickedproblems.earth conversation with Arthur Snell about his new book, the first comprehensive account of the geopolitics of climate change.

In this conversation:

00:00 Arctic Ice Wake Up

00:45 War Crowds Out Climate

02:32 Chokepoints Aren’t Fixed

04:08 Meet Arthur Snell

04:22 Why Climate Is Geopolitics

08:05 Alps Collapse Story

11:01 Skiing Lobbies And Emissions

12:40 Geopolitics Map Gets Redrawn

14:59 Arctic Shipping Routes Open

18:37 Trump Greenland And Minerals

22:46 Panama Canal China Leverage

24:20 Panama Canal Leverage

25:56 Who Shapes Strategy

28:24 Migration as Hard Reality

34:55 Greenland Plans Accelerate

39:27 Russia China North Shift

42:28 Wine and Adaptation

44:36 Book Plug and Farewell

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On Wicked Problems, host Richard Delevan interviews Svitlana Romko, founder of Razom We Stand, at the Laudato Si “Raising Hope” conference about linking Ukraine’s war to global fossil fuel dependence. Romko says We Stand formed in early 2022 to coordinate a coalition of 900 organizations from 60 countries urging bans on Russian fossil fuels and investment, and rebuilding Ukraine with renewables to cut financial flows fueling wars. She argues “all gas is bad,” criticizes replacing Russian gas with US LNG, and urges Europe to accelerate renewables for peace, energy security, climate, and human rights. She describes vast destruction, displacement, population decline to about 20 million, and energy capacity collapsing from 54 GW to 9 GW, while 17–18 GW is needed for winter. She highlights faith-led divestment successes, distributed renewables powering communities, and Ukraine’s renewable potential of 653 GW as a basis for rebuilding and hope.

00:00 Ukraine in Ruins

00:21 I ntro

00:21 Confrontation and Repression

00:59 Intro

01:40 Podcast Intro and Guest

03:20 Meet Svitlana at Conference

03:50 We Stand Mission

05:42 No Such Thing as Clean Gas

07:58 Faith Groups and Divestment

10:46 Populism and Fossil Money

15:50 Ukraine Power Grid Under Attack

22:13 Panel Clip Fossil Fuels and Dictators

34:40 Hope Resilience and Closing

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