On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence

Magnifica Humanitas ("The Grandeur of Humanity") is Pope Leo XIV's first social encyclical, addressed to Catholics and "all men and women of goodwill," on the challenge of safeguarding human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). This letter, "on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence," frames the moment as a pivotal choice between two biblical models: the Tower of Babel—technology as pride, efficiency, and self-sufficiency leading to dehumanization—and Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, which represents shared responsibility, community, and work oriented toward God. Drawing on 135 years of Catholic Social Doctrine stretching from Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) through Pope Francis, the encyclical applies principles—human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and social justice—directly to the digital age, arguing for instance that algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructure, and data should be understood as goods subject to the principle of universal destination, not private monopoly. The Pope warns against a "technocratic paradigm" that reduces people to their productive output and criticizes ideologies like transhumanism and posthumanism as threats to human dignity, while also addressing the specific dangers of AI to truth and democracy, the dignity of work, freedom from algorithmic dependency, and the use of AI in weapons and warfare. The document explicitly notes that the main drivers of technological development are now private, often transnational actors whose resources and capacity to intervene surpass those of many governments—making governance toward the common good more difficult and more urgent. The encyclical concludes with a call for what the Pope terms a "civilization of love" in the digital age, urging diplomacy, multilateralism, and disarmament, and asking everyone—scientists, legislators, educators, businesses, and faith communities—to take their place as builders of a more just and humane society rather than architects of a new Babel.