“When ChatGPT launched, I recognized a solution to a challenge I had been tackling my entire life,” states Matthew Harvey Sanders. This 43-year-old Torontonian, dressed in clerical black, stands in the contemporary library of the Vatican’s Pontifical Oriental Institute. Towering balconies with shelves extend three stories high, containing one of the world’s largest collections of books on Eastern Catholic traditions. This represents just a portion of the Catholic Church’s vast written heritage, including councils, synods, papal encyclicals, official documents, and statistical yearbooks that monitor baptisms, marriages, and ordinations.
Sanders is transforming this extensive body of work into Magisterium AI, a specialized artificial intelligence platform focused on Catholicism that he founded and leads as chief executive. Nearby, in a compact office close to Rome’s Termini station, a team of young women processes dense theological volumes using large scanners, while robotic arms handle page turning. “Currently, we aim to complete the collected works of all the doctors and fathers of the church,” Sanders explains.
Sanders’ Path to the Vatican
Baptized Anglican and raised Evangelical, Sanders converted to Catholicism following a University of Toronto course on church history. At the time, he served part-time as an infantry officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. Later, while assisting with a Catholic youth event for the Archdiocese of Toronto, he identified a significant disconnect between the church’s rich intellectual legacy and the accessible tools for exploring it. This realization drew him to Rome, initially as a technology consultant, and eventually to establishing Magisterium, supported mainly by private Catholic donors.
Magisterium functions as a large language model, but its training data remains strictly limited. Unlike general-purpose systems like ChatGPT, which draw from broad internet sources where Catholic teachings form a minor part—leading to potential inaccuracies—Magisterium relies on primary Catholic materials. Much of this content would otherwise remain archived in specialized libraries or church storage. The platform’s responses provide direct citations to these sources. “We emphasize: Never rely on AI for matters of faith without verification,” Sanders advises.
The Vatican has not granted official endorsement to the platform and likely will not, according to Sanders. Individual books may receive an imprimatur (permission to print) or nihil obstat (no moral objection) due to their fixed nature, but a dynamic language model cannot undergo similar approval from church authorities. Nonetheless, Sanders displays a signed letter from Pope Leo XIV on his office wall, encouraging Catholic AI innovators and noting that “technological innovation can participate in the divine act of creation.”
The Vatican’s Embrace of Digital Tools
Pope Leo XIV has prioritized artificial intelligence early in his papacy. In his first public address last spring, he cautioned that AI could transform economies, workplaces, and even perceptions of humanity. After several years of operation, Magisterium serves users in 185 countries. Primary users include professionals such as priests preparing homilies, bishops, seminary instructors, and chancery personnel. Increasingly, lay Catholics, particularly in Western nations, turn to it for personal ethical dilemmas—what Sanders terms “scrupulosity.”
“Many individuals grapple with a heavy conscience,” he observes. “They seek clarity on the gravity of a sin, whether confession is required, or if it qualifies as venial or mortal.” Frequent topics encompass pornography addiction, sexuality concerns, sexual shame, anger, and uncontrollable behaviors. “People navigate the aftermath when their resolve falters,” Sanders says, questioning, “What does this imply? How can they resolve it?”
Among lay users, the audience leans toward males and Generation Z—one of the loneliest groups in the West, showing renewed interest in Catholicism. Some users approach confrontationally, typing in all caps, before posing substantive questions. “Considerable anger and confusion surround sexuality,” Sanders notes. Usage patterns reveal cultural influences, with spikes following online lectures or podcasts by figures like Jordan Peterson, the former University of Toronto professor and cultural commentator.
“Users often arrive distressed that the Catholic Church views sex outside marriage as harmful,” he says. “They present it as debate, believing they challenge the AI, but they truly engage with thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, and John Paul II.” Sanders positions Magisterium as a reference resource, not a substitute for clergy, confession, or spiritual guidance. He rejects making it mimic a priest’s tone. “I envision it as a librarian’s voice,” he clarifies, “one bound by confessional confidentiality yet without persistent memory.”
Balancing Utility and Human Interaction
This equilibrium between practicality and personal connection proves essential. If interactions feel overly impersonal, users may revert to general AI tools. If too empathetic, it risks supplanting genuine relationships, Sanders warns. Michael Baggot, a theologian and bioethicist at Rome’s Regina Apostolorum University and Magisterium advisory board member, underscores the boundary’s importance. “It offers a valuable entry point for exploring sensitive topics,” he says. “Yet it must direct users toward real people and communities.”
The danger lies in substitution, where AI provides a seemingly safer alternative to human engagement, according to Baggot. AI ethicist Virginia Dignum concurs that a faith-oriented system minimizes factual errors but retains inherent limitations. “It supports relevance but cannot assure accuracy,” she explains. “This involves generative language, not absolute truth.”
Addressing Broader Church Challenges
This tension mirrors Sanders’ personal story. Raised in diverse Toronto, he encountered varied ideas—a privilege, yet overwhelming, complicating moral discernment. “In a sea of signals, discerning truth becomes daunting,” he reflects. His conversion proved intellectual, leading to seminary studies in Washington, D.C., which he left after two years, deeming marriage more fitting than priesthood. This period overlapped with the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, teaching him to distinguish doctrine from institutional shortcomings.
Following roles at the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Spiritual Affairs, handling abuse matters, Sanders concluded that many church issues arise from isolation. “Clergy receive five years of training, while others are left unsupported—that’s unacceptable,” he asserts. Magisterium seeks to bridge this gap, enhancing access to the church’s intellectual resources for greater participation and accountability.
A future objective involves digitizing the church’s statistical yearbooks, enabling diocese-specific searches for baptisms, marriages, and ordinations. “If a diocese declines, users should query the reasons directly,” Sanders says.
