Friends of the Rosary,

This week, Pope Leo XIV presented his first encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), which focuses on how mankind should respond to the rise of AI and the broader digital revolution.

The Pontifex argued that AI is not merely a technical revolution but a civilizational shift, comparable to the Industrial Revolution, as addressed by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 in his Rerum Novarum encyclical, in which the Church's social doctrine was formulated.

Pope Leo XIV introduced the modern age of artificial intelligence as a decisive crossroads for humanity.

The encyclical argues that every generation must choose whether technology will help build a civilization rooted in human dignity and fraternity, or a new “Tower of Babel” marked by domination, confusion, inequality, and loss of human identity.

The core idea is that the human person is created by God with an intrinsic dignity that no machine, system, state, or market can replace. The Pope insists that AI may imitate reasoning and creativity, but it cannot possess conscience, moral responsibility, love, suffering, transcendence, or the spiritual destiny proper to the human person. Human beings must never be reduced to data points, behavioral predictions, or economic units.

Technology is never morally neutral, says the Pope. AI systems reflect the intentions, ideologies, and power structures of those who design and deploy them. Because of this, Leo XIV warns against allowing a small number of governments or corporations to concentrate excessive technological power. He argues that unchecked technological systems can produce new forms of exploitation, manipulation, surveillance, exclusion, and dependency.

Ave Maria!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Please give us the grace to respond with joy!

+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New York

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