{"id":748134,"date":"2026-09-26T05:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T02:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/peter-thiel-says-the-popes-ai-encyclical-was-working-for-china\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T05:10:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T02:10:23","slug":"peter-thiel-says-the-popes-ai-encyclical-was-working-for-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/peter-thiel-says-the-popes-ai-encyclical-was-working-for-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Thiel says the pope\u2019s AI encyclical was \u2018working for\u2019 China"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af5d95911d02\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af5d95911d02\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/peter-thiel-says-the-popes-ai-encyclical-was-working-for-china\/#The_encyclical\" >The encyclical<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/peter-thiel-says-the-popes-ai-encyclical-was-working-for-china\/#%E2%80%98What_were_doing_to_ourselves\" >\u2018What we\u2019re doing to ourselves\u2019<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/peter-thiel-says-the-popes-ai-encyclical-was-working-for-china\/#Germanys_%E2%80%98fear_of_success\" >Germany\u2019s \u2018fear of success\u2019<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.thenextweb.com\/2026\/09\/peter-thiel-smiling-onstage-dark-suit-microphone.avif\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<p>Peter Thiel has called Pope Leo XIV a \u201cuseful idiot\u201d for the Chinese Communist Party over the pope\u2019s call to regulate AI. The PayPal and Palantir co-founder spoke to Axel Springer chief executive Mathias D\u00f6pfner on the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B7yl7fEHeKM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">MD Meets podcast<\/a>, released on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The interview came before Thiel received the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axelspringer.com\/en\/ax-press-release\/live-broadcast-on-september-24-axel-springer-award-2026-presented-to-peter-thiel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Axel Springer Award<\/a> in Berlin on Thursday. Axel Springer owns <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/24\/peter-thiel-slams-popes-ai-encyclical-as-gift-to-chinese-communist-party-01091850\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>, which reported the remarks first, and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/peter-thiel-ai-backlash-united-states-china-2026-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Business Insider<\/a>. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/09\/25\/billionaire-peter-thiel-germany-fear-of-success-failure-to-scale-global-companies-build-wealth-like-musk-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Fortune<\/a> reported on his comments about Germany.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe Communist Party of China is not going to listen to the pope. There\u2019s a chance people in the U.S. will. And so in effect, the Pope\u2019s encyclical was working for the Communist party,\u201d Thiel said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not saying he was an agent of the communists, but he was at least acting as a useful idiot for the CCP,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_encyclical\"><\/span>The encyclical<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Pope Leo published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, in May. In it, he called on world leaders to regulate AI. Thiel argued that the text would do nothing to slow China, Politico reported. Instead, it could lead the US and its allies to impose heavy rules on AI, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Vatican did not respond to requests for comment from Politico or Business Insider. The Vatican has since expanded its AI campaign with an AI4Peace association.<\/p>\n<p>It is not the first time Thiel has attacked the pope over AI. Speaking in Colorado in July, he said the pope was acting as a \u201cChinese communist agent\u201d by calling for regulation, Politico reported.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98What_were_doing_to_ourselves\"><\/span>\u2018What we\u2019re doing to ourselves\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Thiel also said Americans themselves, not China, are mostly to blame for the growing US backlash against AI. He was \u201cinclined to believe\u201d China could be fuelling some anti-AI content, he said. But China was not the main force behind the shift.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThis is mainly what we\u2019re doing to ourselves. It\u2019s often somewhat too easy to simply blame it on China,\u201d Thiel said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Germanys_%E2%80%98fear_of_success\"><\/span>Germany\u2019s \u2018fear of success\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Thiel, who was born in Frankfurt, also criticised German entrepreneurs. German founders tend to sell their companies before they grow into global businesses, he said.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIf you have something that works, you\u2019re not going to scale it to this extreme degree like an Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Among the richest Germans of Generation X or younger, all had inherited their wealth, Thiel said. In the US, most had built it themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Thiel is a partner at Founders Fund, which has invested in OpenAI, Palantir and Scale AI, among other AI companies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/peter-thiel-pope-leo-useful-idiot-china-ai-regulation\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peter Thiel has called Pope Leo XIV a \u201cuseful idiot\u201d for the Chinese Communist Party over the pope\u2019s call to regulate AI. The PayPal and Palantir co-founder spoke to Axel Springer chief executive Mathias D\u00f6pfner on the MD Meets podcast, released on Thursday. The interview came before Thiel received the Axel Springer Award in Berlin&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-748134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}