AI regulation in the Holy See (Vatican)

What is the current regulatory status?

The Holy See is the home of the Rome Call for AI Ethics (2020) promoted by the Pontifical Academy for Life, and issued the doctrinal note "Antiqua et Nova" on AI and human intelligence (January 2025); Vatican City State adopted guidelines on AI use in 2024. General law (data protection where enacted, consumer, telecommunications and sector rules) applies to AI systems.

Binding rules versus guidance

Binding: none recorded. Strategy or guidance: Rome Call for AI Ethics.

Key policy instruments

Instruments at a glance

Native-language names are shown where the record carries one; a blank means the source is in English or the name is not yet recorded.

Timeline

Every dated event on the recorded instruments: publication, adoption, entry into force, application and deadlines. Future dates are marked.

1. 28 Feb 2020 · Rome Call for AI Ethics adopted

Latest changes

RSS

Applicable sectors, use cases and obligation areas

Use cases

Generative AI and foundation models

Sectors

Cross-sector / all sectors

Obligation areas

How to use this information

1. Open the official source on each instrument before relying on any date or obligation.
2. Treat strategies and guidance as signals of coming regulation, not as binding requirements.
3. Check data-protection, consumer, employment and sector law that applies to AI systems regardless of AI-specific instruments.
4. Treat the absence of an AI-specific instrument as a gap in our records, not as legal certainty; check the government portal and regulator sites linked here.

Official government and regulator sources

1. The Holy See
   Government of Holy See (Vatican) · Tier 1 source
2. Data Protection and Privacy Legislation Worldwide (country table)
   UNCTAD · Tier 3 source

Cite this record

AIPolicyTracker (2026). “AI regulation in Holy See (Vatican)”. https://aipolicytracker.org/jurisdictions/holy-see (accessed 27 October 2026). Data licensed CC BY 4.0.

@misc{aipolicytracker2026_airegulationinholyseevat,
  author       = {{AIPolicyTracker}},
  title        = {{AI regulation in Holy See (Vatican)}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://aipolicytracker.org/jurisdictions/holy-see}},
  url          = {https://aipolicytracker.org/jurisdictions/holy-see},
  urldate      = {2026-10-27},
  note         = {Data licensed CC BY 4.0. Accessed 27 October 2026}
}

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