The tech billionaire, co-founder of Palantir and PayPal, accused Pope Leo XIV of favoring China by calling for international AI regulation. According to CNN, Thiel stated during an Aspen Ideas Festival panel that the pontiff is “working for the Chinese communists.”
The phrase came during an unrecorded conversation with political scientist Francis Fukuyama, although journalists present were able to take notes from the event.
Thiel's argument is that the Pope's calls to regulate artificial intelligence may influence part of American society, but would not be heeded by China. In his reading, this would only slow down one of the two competitors in the global AI race: the United States.
What Peter Thiel said about the Pope
According to CNN, Thiel accused Pope Leo XIV of unintentionally serving as a “Chinese communist agent” by calling for more international control over artificial intelligence. The Aspen Ideas Festival audience reportedly met the characterization of the Pope as a Chinese agent with laughter, according to CNN's information.
The Vatican did not respond to the American media's request for comment.
Why Thiel attacks the Pope over AI
Thiel's criticism stems from a geopolitical premise. The United States and China are competing to lead artificial intelligence. For Thiel, any regulatory brake that affects American companies, but not the Chinese ecosystem, could tip the race in Beijing's favor.
That is why he interprets the Pope's position as a strategic risk for the West. Leo XIV, on the other hand, frames the debate from another perspective: human dignity, the concentration of power, surveillance, work, war, and the need for technology not to advance without democratic or ethical limits.
What Pope Leo XIV asked for
CNN recalls that Leo XIV used his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, in May to call for greater international regulation of artificial intelligence. In that text, the Pope maintained that AI “must be disarmed.”
The expression does not imply destroying the technology, but disarming it of logics of war, domination, exploitation, surveillance, and concentration of power. The Vatican defends that artificial intelligence must be at the service of the person and the common good, not just economic, military, or geopolitical competition.
The race between the United States and China
The clash between Thiel and Leo XIV summarizes one of the great debates of the moment. One part of Silicon Valley believes that over-regulating AI can leave the United States at a disadvantage compared to China. Another part of the public debate argues that an AI without limits can destroy jobs, manipulate elections, expand surveillance, concentrate power, and automate critical decisions.
The Pope places himself in the second: regulate, limit, and subject technology to human, social, and political criteria.
Thiel also warned of a socialist takeover of the Democratic Party
Thiel's intervention was not limited to the Vatican. According to CNN, the investor also warned of a “socialist takeover” of the US Democratic Party.
Thiel argued that the Republican Party is no longer the decisive center of the political future of the United States and that the real risk, in his opinion, lies in a transformation of the Democratic Party towards democratic socialist positions.
The phrase fits with his general vision: the West would be trapped between technological stagnation, institutional crisis, and political forces that, according to him, could further slow down innovation.
His vision of Europe
Thiel also attacked the European Union. According to CNN, he described the EU as a stagnant bureaucracy excessively subjected to rules. The literal phrase quoted by the media is: “The European Union is the rule of law. It's like bad AI.”
With that comparison, Thiel presented Europe as a system governed by norms, procedures, and automatisms that would limit the capacity for political and technological decision-making. The criticism connects with his rejection of regulation: for Thiel, Europe would be the example of what happens when rules outweigh innovation.
Palantir, the “deep state,” and technological power
Thiel also spoke about Palantir, the software and data intelligence company he co-founded and which works with US federal agencies, the Pentagon, and security organizations.
According to CNN, he defended that Palantir is not linked to the US “deep state” and described its leaders as “loyal-dissident-type people”. The phrase summarizes another of his central contradictions: Palantir works with the US national security apparatus, but Thiel tries to present it as a company close to power, though not absorbed by it.
The attack on Anthropic
Thiel also made an unsubstantiated accusation against Anthropic, one of the leading artificial intelligence companies. He claimed that the company, which he described as liberal and "woke," could manipulate or influence the 2028 US elections in favor of the Democrats.
Anthropic declined to comment directly and referred to a recent publication on electoral integrity and political biases.
The religious context: the Antichrist
The friction between Thiel and the Vatican is not new. In March, the businessman gave a series of private lectures in Rome about the Antichrist, a few meters from the Holy See.
Thiel has argued on other occasions that the Antichrist may not appear as a specific person, but as a form of world government that promises to protect humanity from existential risks such as AI, climate change, or nuclear weapons.
That idea helps to understand his rejection of global regulation of artificial intelligence: for Thiel, major threats can be used as an excuse to build centralized power that curbs freedom and innovation.