McElroy: U.S. cardinals met AI labs; labor market set to shift
At a September 6, 2026 Labor Day Mass in Washington, Cardinal Robert McElroy said he and other U.S. cardinals recently met Silicon Valley AI team leaders about work and robotics. Citing that visit, he told the congregation the labor market will “radically change” over about 20 years and that “millions” of today’s jobs may be gone within a decade — and that “no one knows” whether meaningful work will remain.
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Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, archbishop of Washington, preached at a Catholic Labor Network Labor Day Mass on September 6 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. The archdiocesan Catholic Standard reported on September 7 that he said he had recently joined other U.S. cardinals for Silicon Valley discussions with leaders of artificial intelligence teams at cutting-edge companies, including workforce effects of AI paired with robotics.
From the pulpit he asked whether meaningful work would remain and answered, “No one knows.” He said the labor market will “radically change in the next 20 years,” predicted “tremendous dislocations of workers,” and that “millions of workers who have jobs now will not have those jobs 10 years from now.”
He urged that society keep workers “at the table” so exploitation does not grow and wealth does not concentrate “at the expense of the working class.” This brief records McElroy’s public account of the meetings and his Labor Day warning. It does not name other cardinals on the trip (those names appear only in a Substack account, not in Catholic Standard) and does not name the companies.
Sources
Catholic Standard: At Labor Day Mass, Cardinal McElroy warns AI will transform work, urges protection of workers’ dignity (Sep 7, 2026)
https://www.cathstan.org/local/at-labor-day-mass-cardinal-mcelroy-warns-ai-will-transform-work-urges-protection-of-workers-dignityArchived copy