Humanity — in all its grandeur and woundedness — must never be replaced or surpassed. Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas Magnificent Humanity. In all the talk about Magnifica Humanitas, no one I know of has bothered to say what those two words mean: Magnificent Humanity. Make no mistake about it, we are magnificent creatures. Twenty thousand years ago, we were living in caves. Our advanced technology of that day was using fire to cook our food and developing the ability... Read more
Pope Leo’s prayer intention for June is a change of direction from the more serious intentions he usually has. However, as a devoted soccer granny, I understand how important sport can be in the formation of young minds and bodies. Sports also give all of us a chance to bond over a shared goal without having the burden of that goal be a life or death situation. In these fraught times, it breathes life into us to just cheer on... Read more
Success in creating effective AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst. Stephen Hawking Pope Leo began Magnifica Humanitas with a long explanation of the historical and theological basis for the Catholic teaching on what the Church calls the “dignity of the human person.” What this means in simple terms that ordinary people can apply to their decisions and the way they live their lives, is that human beings — and that means all... Read more
I encourage all members of the Church not to be afraid of the present challenges, but to listen to one another and firmly embrace their responsibilities in building a more humane and fraternal society. ~ Pope Leo XIV Chapter 3 of Magnifica Humanitas is the point where Pope Leo stops explaining the Christian and Catholic basis for what he is teaching and actually starts teaching it. There’s more in Chapter 3 than I can cover in one post, so I’m going... Read more
The basis for all that the Church believes about the moral dimensions of economic life is its vision of the transcendent worth — the sacredness — of human beings. The dignity of the human person is the criterion against which all aspects of economic life must be measured. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Life and Dignity of the Human Person I’m going to take a Saturday pause so far as unpacking what Pope Leo has written in Magnifica Humanitas. ... Read more
When the dignity of our brothers and sisters is violated, when politics fails to address the tragedies of humanity, when the economy turns against the person, or science oversteps the limits of its competence, the Church must make her voice heard. Magnifica Humanitas There’s an old saying around these parts: When the buffalo fight in the swamp, the frogs lose. The Catholic Church, with its global reach and 1.5 billion followers, certainly qualifies as a “buffalo” in any public debate. ... Read more
Press reports and discussions about Magnifica Humanitas have to be brief. They also have to titillate and compete for the attention of a public that is both overwhelmed and jaded by an unending deluge of “information” being dumped on it by the many channels of communication we have today. From what I’ve seen, the press, or at least the so-called “legacy” press, made an honest attempt to report what Pope Leo wrote as accurately as they could within the parameters... Read more
Magnifica Humanitas is a milestone in Church teaching for many reasons. Pope Leo’s teaching is consistent with that of previous popes. He doesn’t overturn what the Church has taught for 2,000 years, he applies it to today’s challenges. Magnficia Humanitas stands on the shoulders of many previous encyclicals, including Rerum Novarum and Centesimus Annus. Laity’s Moral Responsibility to Work for the Common Good Pope Leo is teaching lay Catholics like you and me how to understand our Christian and moral... Read more
Pope Leo has given us a massively important teaching that will inform Catholic thought and morality vis a vis technological development for hundreds of years to come. Magnifica Humanitas teaches that human beings are the purpose and reason for technological development. Technology that enslaves people and reduces them to less-than-human servants of the technology our society produces is technology that is being put to immoral uses. We — you and I — people everywhere; our advancement and betterment, is the... Read more
One ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. The Lord of the Rings Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It is also the day that Pope Leo chose to release his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.’ The release of Magnifica humanitas coincides with the 135th anniversary of the release of the landmark... Read more
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