“Magnifica humanitas”: AI must serve humanity not concentrate power
As Pope Leo’s encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ is unveiled, Professor Anna Rowlands, theologian at Durham University, England, tells us that such a powerful message—addressing both the benefits and dangers of our AI era—will leave an enduring mark on the Church and the world.
“There is not a tomorrow to begin thinking about these issues.”
Professor Anna Rowlands stressed this point following the release of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, presented at the Vatican on May 25.
The document, signed by Pope Leo on May 15 — the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo’s landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum — was unveiled in the Vatican’s Synod Hall.
Vital contribution
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Professor Rowlands described the encyclical as “an absolutely vital contribution” for two principal reasons.
First, she said, humanity is facing a moment of profound urgency regarding the technological issues addressed in the document.
“There is not a tomorrow to begin to think about these issues”, she warned, “Because their impact on workplaces, on labour, on immigrants, on families, on political society and on conflicts globally is now, and was yesterday, and will continue tomorrow as well.”
At the same time, she acknowledged that many people feel uncertain or unqualified to engage with questions surrounding artificial intelligence.
“There’s a kind of hope that somehow, and the Holy Father says this in the document, that maybe somebody else will think about these things”, she noted. “But we have to think about them, and we have to think about them together.”
Need for all voices to be heard
The theologian suggested that one of the central concerns of Magnifica Humanitas is ensuring that these questions are not left solely to private discussion shaped primarily by profit rather than by human dignity.
“How do we create common spaces”, she asked, “where particularly the voices of the most marginalised, and those most harshly affected by an algorithmic order, a digital horizon, and an AI world, are heard first?”
The encyclical, she explained, insists that those voices must be central to any conversation aimed at promoting the common good.
Professor Rowlands also emphasised the Pope’s “unique voice” on the global stage in raising deeper moral and spiritual questions about humanity itself.
Pope Leo asks society to reflect on key questions
The Holy Father, she said, asks society to reflect on fundamental questions: “What do we think human life is? Who are we as human beings? What vision and goal are we aiming for in our humanity and in our lives together?”
“He offers us both a very strong criticism”, she continued, “of the false story lines, the false narratives about what it means to be human, particularly those that place power and domination over others, whether in politics, war, conflict, or the economy.”
In contrast to those narratives, Pope Leo proposes what she described as “a rather beautiful vision of a civilisation of love.”
Professor Rowlands said the encyclical urges humanity to recover a shared moral imagination, especially “a way of seeing one another and the world that recognises the inherent value of the human person”.
The text, she suggested, warns against transferring human dignity to technological tools or imagining that AI could somehow become “more human” than humanity itself, while simultaneously diminishing our own humanity.
An invitation, to have long-term impact
At the same time, Dr Rowlands said, the document is also an invitation.
“We need together to build that civilisation of love”, she said. “And we only do that through fully living in a sense that we are finite creatures created for love, yearning for justice, and that we create that world together in participation.”
Professor Rowlands concluded by reflecting on Magnifica Humanitas within the broader tradition of Catholic social teaching.
“Magnifica Humanitas is fresh and new because it is addressing AI”, she said, “but it stands within a long tradition of encyclicals focused on industrialisation, capitalism, the condition of work, and the meaning of technology for human beings.”
The message of Pope Leo’s encyclical, she suggested, is one that will resonate far beyond the present and will impact generations.
Magnifica Humanitas announcement at Vatican News
Magnifica Humanitas document at The Vatican
Further information on Magnifica Humanitas is available at the link below.
www.humandevelopment.va/en/magnifica-humanitas
Original material by Deborah Castellano Lubov, Vatican News
Professor Anna Rowlands welcomes
Magnifica Humanitas ↓
Introduction to
Magnifica Humanitas by the Vatican ↓
Overview of
Magnifica Humanitas with Fr Casey Cole ↓