# Holy See (Vatican)

- **Record type**: Jurisdiction profile
- **Short name**: Holy See (Vatican)
- **ISO code**: VA
- **Type**: country
- **Region**: Europe / Southern Europe

## In brief

The Holy See (Vatican) has 1 recorded AI policy instrument, none of them binding. 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.

## Overview

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. This record exists so that coverage is complete and honest: it will be expanded when an official AI instrument is published or a reviewer adds one with its source.

## 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.

## What is binding and what is guidance

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

## Regulators

- The Holy See — Official government portal; AI policy lead not yet identified — https://www.vatican.va/

## How to use this profile

- Open the official source on each instrument before relying on any date or obligation.
- Treat strategies and guidance as signals of coming regulation, not as binding requirements.
- Check data-protection, consumer, employment and sector law that applies to AI systems regardless of AI-specific instruments.
- 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 sources

- The Holy See — Government of Holy See (Vatican) — https://www.vatican.va/
- Data Protection and Privacy Legislation Worldwide (country table) — UNCTAD — https://unctad.org/page/data-protection-and-privacy-legislation-worldwide

## Instruments recorded for this jurisdiction (1)

- **Rome Call for AI Ethics (Pontifical Academy for Life, 28 February 2020)** — Framework, Voluntary standard, non-binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/holy-see-rome-call-for-ai-ethics
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/holy-see-rome-call-for-ai-ethics.md

## Provenance

- **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/jurisdictions/holy-see
- **Official source**: https://www.vatican.va/
- **Source document**: The Holy See
- **Published by**: Government of Holy See (Vatican)
- **Review status**: verified
- **Confidence**: medium
- **Facts last confirmed**: 2026-09-26
- **Confirmed by**: Bhaskar Bhatt (see https://aipolicytracker.org/reviewers)
- **Retrieved**: 2026-10-27
- **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

> This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.