Pope Leo's A.I. encyclical: Top takeaways from “Magnifica Humanitas”

Jesuitical

America Media

News, News Commentary, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

This week on Jesuitical: A feed drop of this week's special “Inside the Vatican” roundtable, a discussion of “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo’s groundbreaking first encyclical on protecting the human person in the age of artificial intelligence. Host Colleen Dulle sits down with her co-host and senior Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, as well as America’s president and editor in chief, Sam Sawyer, S.J. They discuss the document’s key takeaways, how it is being received in Silicon Valley, Pope Leo’s challenge for every Catholic in the A.I. age and much more. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:11 Pope Leo present for the launch of his own encyclical 4:21 How the encyclical is being received by the tech community 8:43 Magnifica Humanitas on the growth of Catholic social teaching 13:16 Acknowledging the Church’s role in slavery 15:53 Exploring Pope Leo’s ecclesiology 22:30 Leo’s concrete recommendations for A.I. 32:30 How lay people can deal with A.I. 37:40 Outro Links: Read “Magnifica Humanitas” Pope Leo’s first encyclical tackles A.I., power and human dignity Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for the Catholic Church’s role in legitimizing slavery Why Pope Leo’s new encyclical quotes Gandalf: Literary images of hope and faith in ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ A capitalist (priest) reads ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Jorge is passionate about coding, writing poetry, and like many kids in Argentina, he loves to play soccer.
0:06.7	Jorge is also visually impaired, thanks to Jesuit inclusive education programs that hasn't held him back from pursuing his dreams.
0:13.3	Read Jorge's story at American Jesuitsinternational.org, backslash stories.
0:36.4	Hello and welcome to Jesuitical, a podcast from America Media for Saints and Sinners.
0:38.4	You can join us each week for honest conversations about the Catholic Church in our world today, sometimes over drinks. I'm Ashley McKinless.
0:44.3	As you've probably heard by now, Pope Leo released his first encyclical this week called Magnifica
0:50.2	Humanitas on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.
0:56.0	Zach and I are on the road this week, so we're dropping a special roundtable discussion in the Jesuitical feed,
1:02.0	featuring our colleagues, Father Sam Sawyer, President and Editor-in-Chief of America,
1:07.0	along with America's Vatican correspondence and hosts of the Inside the Vatican podcast, Gerard O'Connell and Colleen Dully.
1:14.7	They do a deep dive into this historic documents, key takeaways, how it's being received in Silicon Valley,
1:21.6	and Pope Leo's challenge for all of us in the AI age. You won't want to miss it.
1:32.1	Pope Leo the 14th dropped a 40,000 word encyclical on artificial intelligence, human dignity, and the future of civilization on May 25th.
1:37.7	In it, he critiques a growing culture of power and dominance and tries to re-center the human
1:42.7	person in the pursuit of advanced technologies.
1:45.5	He goes back to established Christian principles of human dignity, the common good, and solidarity
1:50.1	in a kind of reboot of Catholic social teaching. Is this a direct challenge to Silicon Valley
1:55.3	and tech billionaires? What does it say to political leaders who are waging war? And what does
2:00.3	this encyclical tell us about the kind of church Pope Leo wants?
2:03.7	Today, we're breaking it down for you as we discuss the key arguments, the most consequential sections,
2:08.5	and the potential of this document to shape both the conversation on technology and the Catholic Church's approach to social justice.
2:15.3	I'm Colleen Dully, host of America Media's Inside the Vatican podcast,
	...

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