Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah represented the company at the Vatican on May 25, 2026, during the launch of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas*, which firmly rejected machine consciousness while calling for external oversight of AI development. Recent reporting has detailed Anthropic’s separate, ongoing consultations since fall 2025 with dozens of religious scholars under NDA on Claude’s potential moral status and internal states resembling human experiences. The encyclical’s Paragraph 99 stance created visible friction, prompting Olah to consider withdrawing before the event and later private efforts to soften the language. No additional high-profile Vatican-Anthropic meetings have been confirmed since May, though lower-level ethical exchanges continue amid Anthropic’s emphasis on safety and interpretability. Traders are watching for any new official invitations, regulatory signals, or public statements that could signal renewed formal dialogue.