Most of us do not begin the day thinking about papal encyclicals. That is understandable. Yet I believe Pope Leo’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, speaks directly to concerns many people in our community already feel.
Whether we are parents, grandparents, teachers, workers, business owners, or public servants, many of us are asking the same question: as artificial intelligence becomes a larger part of everyday life, what kind of world are we building for one another?
That is the central question of this Letter from the Holy Father. And while it comes from the Catholic tradition, its message is not meant only for Catholics. It speaks to anyone who cares about human dignity, about truth, about family life, and about the future we will hand on to the next generation.
Pope Leo is not asking us to fear technology or to reject progress. We all know that new tools can do a great deal of good. They can help doctors care for patients, help students learn, help workers solve problems, and help communities stay connected. Yet the Pope also reminds us that technology is never only about speed, convenience, or efficiency. He says: “Calling for prudence, rigorous evaluation and even, at times, a slower pace in adopting AI does not mean opposing progress; instead, it is an exercise of responsible care for the human family (Magnifica Humanitas, n.106).” Pope Leo is raising a deeper question: does this help us become more caring, more just, more wise, and more attentive to one another? Or does it make it easier to mislead, to manipulate, or to treat people as if they were little more than data points?
These are not abstract concerns. They touch daily life right here in our neighborhoods. Three Mile Island’s Unit One is scheduled to reopen in 2027-2028 as Crane Clean Energy Center. Microsoft has already signed a twenty-year purchasing agreement to buy all its energy output to primarily support its AI and Cloud data centers. Parents worry about what their children are seeing and absorbing online. Workers wonder what new technologies will mean for their jobs and livelihoods. Teachers and students are navigating rapid changes in how people learn, write, and communicate. All of us have seen how easily confusion, half-truths, and anger can spread in our public life. And we know that when powerful tools are placed in human hands without moral wisdom, the consequences can be serious.
That is why I believe that this encyclical matters.
At the heart of Pope Leo’s message is a truth that should unite people of every faith and of no faith at all: every human person possesses a dignity that cannot be measured by usefulness, productivity, or profit. The Pope observes: “The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good (n.152).” A good society is not judged only by what it can produce or how quickly it can innovate. It is judged by how it treats people, especially the vulnerable. It is judged by whether families are supported, whether workers are respected, whether children are protected, and whether truth and peace are honored.
Pope Leo also asks us to think seriously about responsibility. He states: “So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences (Magnifica Humanitas, n.99).” Who is shaping these new tools? What values guide them? Who benefits from them, and who may be left behind? These are not only technical questions for experts or executives. They are moral questions, and they belong to all of us.
In recent years, many people have felt that technological change is moving faster than our public conversation about right and wrong. We often hear what can be done, but not often enough what should be done. Magnifica Humanitas helps fill that gap, inviting us to ask not only what is possible, but what is worthy of the human person.
I encourage all people of good will, who care about the future of our common life, to read this encyclical. You do not have to be Catholic to find wisdom in it. You simply have to care about the kind of society we are becoming.
In the end, that is the Pope’s concern, and it is mine as well: that in a fast-changing world, we do not lose sight of what matters most — the God-given worth of every human life and our responsibility to care for one another as neighbors.
By Bishop Timothy C. Senior
