Magnifica humanitas: Key Points from Pope Leo's First Encyclical

Magnifica humanitas has arrived, and it is beautiful. It is well worth reading in full, because it is a wonderfully written, deeply thoughtful, clearly prayed through text that I think will stand the test of time. Leo’s first encyclical shows us his heart, and invites us to consider what is happening in this current age and how each of us is uniquely grand, dignified, valuable, and loved.

Magnifica humanitas is not a screed against AI, nor it is a full throated endorsement of the technological advancements of the AI tools surrounding us. It is a consideration of the moments we face, how history got us here, how the social doctrine of the Church can guide us, and the responsibilities we each have in the current age of artificial intelligence. Here are important themes/points from Magnifica humanitas as you sit down to read it.

• Magnifica humanitas is magnificent, painting a picture of the grandeur of God writ large in the world, seen and experienced fully within His creation (namely us humans) and when we encounter the face of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Pope Leo makes clear that we grand and magnificent humans face a pivotal choice: will we build Babel or will we construct a city of God?
• The social doctrine of the Church is a rich and deep well. Pope Leo traces its historical development, the ways it has been taught, interpreted, and implemented in the Church and world, and challenges us to consider that the teachings of the Church concerning the principles of common good, universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity, and social justice are more than nice ideas. These are ever-present realities we must embrace, live, fight for, and proclaim boldly, especially as people of Faith.
• The world in which we live is rapidly changing, and Pope Leo is calling us to ask one key question about what is unfolding: What are we building? Leo poses a few key questions worth considering:

“Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as people and as a human community?” (MH, 6).

And to guide us through these questions, he offers two scenarios/characters: the building of the Tower of Babel and the Rebuilding of the Walls of Jerusalem.

“With the heart of a shepherd and a father, I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good, so that humanity will never lose its beauty, and the world once again will come to recognize the human heart as the place where God desire to dwell.” (MH, 16).

• Humanity will always be greater than anything humans make, and while AI is a valuable tool, it is just that: a tool. AI is created and manmade, and therefore under our control. We must fashion the use of AI around guiding principles and an ethical, moral code, because technology is far from morally neutral. If Artificial Intelligence is set to try and build a new kind of conscience, a new kind of human, then this shows us the very real human desire for more, and that can ultimately only be satisfied in a relationship with Christ. This is key: Pope Leo does not spend his time in this encyclical just telling the world how to use or not use AI. Instead, he, as the shepherd and Father we need, points us back to Jesus. That is the only lens through which we can tackle any changes in the world, technological or otherwise. Humanity is magnificent because of the most magnificent human, Jesus, and we transcend ourselves in relationship with Him, through grace.
• AI risks automating the human spirit, and as such, we have to ensure that AI and technological advancements are tools for us. We cannot become cogs in a machine that are simply productive and efficient. Our dignity, and the dignity of our work, is paramount, and it comes not from what we do, but simply because we are. That which is artificially intelligent cannot and must not replace that which is real and wise.
• Peace is not merely an idea, or even just an ideal. It is a craft, and an unarmed and disarming peace is of the utmost importance in the world today. Leo extensively explores and calls out the military industrial complex, the ways in which AI and technology create a divided world that can lead to quick war, forever war, and a belief that holds (wrongly) that peace is just far too difficult to achieve. War is easy. Peace takes time, and Pope Leo asks us to work to create peace within so that peace can reign throughout.
• Humans long for more. We would not have transhumanism, post-humanist, or even AI driven movements and advancement if there was not a desire within the human heart for more. We are restless, after all, and our Augustinian Pope quotes St. Augustine to remind us the restless heart only comes to a satisfied stillness in the Lord. Some in this world falsely believe we can build the more, invent the more, and code the more. But no! That more for which we long can only be found in God.

“…as a believer among believers, I invite everyone to contemplate, in the face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light also on the era of AI…No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil. Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history.” (MH, 233).

• We are not without hope in the age of AI. In fact, we should never be without hope when facing change. Because it is precisely in the face of change that God shows the strength of his arm, and the scattering of the proud, as he casts down the mighty, lifts up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich away empty-handed. This is what Mary proclaims, what she prays, when faced with a challenge and a wild change in her life. She “bursts into a hymn of praise and joy. Her soul magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, because he chose a young, poor, and humble girl for his plan of salvation.” (MH 243). In the age of AI, we must do the same. Just like Mary, we can see God’s invisible work in history and among mankind and ultimately direct our gaze to His Face.

In the end this is the question posed: What ultimately safeguards humanity? In short: a civilization of love, which we build in relationship with God and others. What protects us in an age of AI? Remembering it is a tool that we use, not a tool that uses us. What brings us hope in this rapidly changing era? The face of Jesus Christ, the fuel that is the Eucharist, and communion with one another.

We are the ones, loved into our existence, who must decide what to do with the time given to us. Pope Leo invites us to do with that time what we dignified, free, loved, creative, magnificent humans alone can do: build the civilization of love.

“The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization…it is worthwhile pausing to reflect on some aspects of how we, each in our own way, can cooperate in building the civilization of love.” (MH, 213)