Pope Leo XIV indicated at the beginning of his pontificate that he intended to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Leo XIII by responding to today's Industrial Revolution. In this landmark encyclical released on the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIV addresses the most urgent and transformative challenge of our era: the rise of artificial intelligence and the digital revolution.
The document couples the computational mind of a pope who holds a mathematics degree from Villanova University with the values of his Augustinian roots. Leo proffers a cajoling, even quaint, argument: In an age of technological disrupters and a pursuit of limitless wealth and power by nations and individuals, the nonstop race for more, better and faster may undermine the fundamental messy beauty of being human. Leo frames the document as scripture come to life. Humanity, he writes, has a choice between two biblical stories. One, the Tower of Babel, in which humans try to ensure their dominance over everything and build to the sky. The other, of the Israelites' reconstruction of Jerusalem, which begins with fasting and prayer and emphasizes shared work and community.
MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS (The Grandeur of Humanity) offers a comprehensive moral and spiritual framework for navigating the age of AI. Drawing on the rich tradition of Catholic social doctrine-from Leo XIII to Francis-the encyclical explores the foundations of human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and social justice as essential principles for discerning the ethical use of emerging technologies.
