Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical Letter: Magnifica Humanitas

Source

Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical Letter, Magnifica Humanitas, was released today. It focuses on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. The letter is dated 15 May, to commemorate the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Letter, Rerum Novarum.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development offers the following synopsis of the Encyclical Letter: “Magnifica Humanitas offers insights into the protection of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, recognizing a profound epochal shift. It places the dignity of the human person at the centre as the criteria for guiding technical progress. The Church’s social teaching accompanies these transformations, pointing to the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity as the fundamental benchmarks for understanding and interpreting the transformation currently underway. It proposes, as an alternative to the culture of power and war, a civilization of love founded on justice, dialogue and shared responsibility.”

To accompany the Encyclical Letter, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has prepared a collection of resources on the topic of artificial intelligence.

Link to the Encyclical Letter

The Encyclical in brief