On Monday 25th May Pope Leo released his first encyclical entitled: Magnifica Humanitas.
An encyclical is one of the highest forms of papal teaching. It is a letter from the Pope addressed to the entire Church and to "all men and women of goodwill". Magnifica Humanitas, which translates to "Magnificent Humanity," is Pope Leo XIV's desire to address what he sees as the most pressing issue facing the world today. Whether we are conscious of it or not, artificial intelligence is profoundly shaping our lives. It is shaping the choices we make and values that inform our choices.
AI is not therefore a distant or futuristic concept. It is already deciding who gets a bank loan, who gets called for a job interview, what news you see, what content your children encounter, and increasingly, who lives and who dies on battlefields. These are not technical questions; they are human questions. Hence Pope Leo believes they need to be addressed because silence would be a failure of pastoral responsibility.
At the heart of Magnifica Humanitas are two images drawn from Scripture that frame the document. The first is the Tower of Babel, humanity using its collective power and technology to build something grand, but without God, without care for the vulnerable, and ultimately without wisdom. The result is not unity but fragmentation, not progress but confusion. The second is Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, a different kind of building project. Not driven by pride or profit, but by prayer, shared responsibility, listening, and a genuine concern for every member of the community. Brick by brick. Together.
Pope Leo XIV believes that the same choice faces us today. We can use AI to build Babel, a world of algorithmic control, digital exploitation, growing inequality, and the slow erosion of what makes us human. Or we can use it to rebuild Jerusalem, putting technology at the service of human dignity, the common good, and genuine solidarity. While technology is important we need to be aware how it can manipulate us and fail to respect human dignity.
The question is what kind of people we will be while using it. Pope Leo XIV is asking Catholics us to remain profoundly human. To ask hard questions. To resist the slow drift toward a world where efficiency replaces compassion, where data replaces dignity, and where the logic of profit replaces the logic of love.
Magnifica Humanitas can be bought from the Abbey Gift Shop: £6.97
