Entrepreneurs and business leaders react to the statements made by Leo XIV.
Transforming business in the age of AI to serve without enslaving with an open platform and sector focus groups.
Paris, August 2025 – AI changes everything. Christian leaders are getting organised. Inspired by Pope Leo XIV's call to put AI at the service of the human person, they launched Rerum Novairum, the first worldwide Christian initiative on the new economic revolution brought about by AI. A few days after his election, following in the footsteps of Leo XIII, author of the seminal 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum on social justice and the economy, Pope Leo XIV called for a "response to a new industrial revolution and to developments in the field of AI which pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and work".
Objective : to help decision-makers discern and act quickly facing massive economic & environmental disruptions and the future of work
Means : to create opensource commons via focus groups to discern the best field transformation practices in each sector (services, industry, health, education, etc.) and to provide massive dissemination to serve without enslaving.
A "bottom-up" initiative: led by the leaders themselves, supported by major international networks, and open to all those who want to combine performance and the common good via a not-for-profit entrepreneurial foundation run by Professor Etienne de Rocquigny and Augustin Destremau, serial entrepreneurs and co-founders of the initiative.
The approach is based on Christian Social Thought to shed light on the major issues raised by AI : dignity of work, ecology, human relations, autonomy, critical thinking, etc.
Rerum Novairum aims to unite a global ecosystem: from local SMEs to tech companies, from traditional trades to innovative sectors.
The first stage is to gather contributions from entrepreneurs in the field, launch focus groups and then put the commons online in the first quarter of 2026.
Press contact - Étienne de Rocquigny - [email protected]
Key data and timetable
● 45,000 Christian leaders involved via the founding movements
● Partners on 5 continents with a variety of backgrounds (United States, Philippines, Italy, Mexico, Ivory Coast, etc.)
● October 2025: International online conferences
● November 2025: Focus groups launched
● Q1 2026: Online commons open to all
Contribute, follow our work or join a focus group: www.rerum-novairum.org
About the founding network partners
● Espérance & Algorithmes – A Paris-based think-tank of entrepreneurs, VCs, techs, philosophers and theologians founded in 2016 to cross AI, entrepreneurship, philosophy and faith in the light of biblical anthropology and Christian Social Thought.
● UNIAPAC – An international confederation that currently brings together Christian business leaders' associations in 40 countries, and >45,000 highly active business leaders worldwide.
● Les EDC (Entrepreneurs et Dirigeants Chrétiens) – A leading French-speaking community of >3,700 Christian entrepreneurs and business leaders inspired by Christian thinking.
● UCID (Unione Cristiana Imprenditori Dirigenti) - A major Italian network of Christian entrepreneurs and executives promoting ethical leadership and business practices rooted in Catholic Social Teaching.
● The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty - A USA-based ecumenical, nonprofit research organization that promotes the benefits of free enterprise to religious communities, business people, students and educators at an international level.