Inside The Vatican

Pope Leo visited Spain from June 6-12, a visit that drew record-breaking crowds. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell recaps for Colleen Dulle the highlights from the pope’s three stops: Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. On the last day, Gerry reports, Leo spoke out against those who take advantage of migrants “like I’ve rarely seen him,” shouting, “Stop! Repent!”

After this episode was recorded, Pope Leo spoke to journalists outside Castel Gandolfo, saying “Thank God” for the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and commenting on the upcoming illicit ordinations of bishops for the Society of St. Pius X. Regarding the latter, he said, ““If they make that choice, I am sorry, but we must move forward.”

Interview: Madrid’s Cardinal Cobo says Pope Leo’s visit to Spain ‘is bringing out the best in people’

In Spain, Pope Leo denounces polarization and hails commitment to multilateralism

More than one million attend Pope Leo’s Mass and procession in the heart of Madrid

Pope Leo defends the unborn and migrants in historic speech to Spanish parliament

Pope Leo meets with 6 clergy abuse survivors in Spain

Pope Leo blesses 21 ambulances that an Argentine nun is taking to Ukraine

Pope Leo tackles depression, domestic violence and the ‘cult of self-image’ in dialogue with young people

Pope Leo visits famed Spanish monastery, entrusting his ministry to the Virgin of Montserrat

Pope Leo XIV honors Antoni Gaudí and blesses the Sagrada Familia’s final tower

‘Human dignity has no passport’: Pope Leo visits Gran Canaria

Pope Leo ends visit to Spain with a call to repent

Pope Leo speaks out on SSPX ordinations and U.S.-Iran deal

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Pope Leo’s encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ published May 25, has sparked debates in the worlds of technology and theology while galvanizing online creators opposed to artificial intelligence. Anna Rowlands, a theologian and co-presenter of the text with Pope Leo, joins Colleen Dulle to parse the encyclical’s reception, its contributions to Catholic teaching, and whether workers can use the encyclical to justify religious exemptions to using A.I.

Links:

Pope Leo’s trip to Spain: Background on Sagrada Familia, migrant advocacy and a changing Catholic landscape

More than one million attend Pope Leo’s Mass and procession in the heart of Madrid

Pope Leo meets with 6 clergy abuse survivors in Spain

Pope Leo meets Bad Bunny in Madrid

A.I. is the headline for ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ but Catholic social teaching is its spine

Why ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ is Pope Leo’s most important action on synodality yet

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This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss EWTN News President and COO Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado as prefect of the Vatican’s dicastery for communications. They unpack some of the challenges currently facing the dicastery and analyze the appointment in light of the Vatican’s previously strained relationship with EWTN. In the second half of the show, Gerry gives a preview of Pope Leo’s trip to Spain next week.

0:00 Intro

0:48 The dicastery for communications’ challenges

3:32 Montse Alvarado’s appointment and experience

6:38 First lay woman to head a Vatican dicastery

11:08 Significance of an American as head of communications

13:49 Alvarado steered EWTN away from conflict with Francis

17:19 Pope Leo’s vision for communications

21:38 Pope Leo to address Spanish parliament in Madrid

24:29 Pope Leo’s visit to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

26:20 Pope Leo to highlight migration in Canary Islands

28:04 Other possible events for pope’s Spain trip

31:34 Outro and credits

Links:

Pope Leo appoints president of EWTN News as head of Vatican communications

Pope Francis responds to attacks from EWTN, other church critics: ‘They are the work of the devil.’

Explainer: The story behind Pope Francis’ beef with EWTN

Pope Leo’s trip to Spain: Background on Sagrada Familia, migrant advocacy and a changing Catholic landscape

Bad Bunny wants to meet Pope Leo XIV. In Madrid, a crossover event is in the works.

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This week on a 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. 

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’

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Pope Leo released his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence” today, May 25.

(Read the encyclical here. And find America Magazine's extensive coverage of the encyclical here.)

Pope Leo presented the encyclical at the Vatican along with the panel of experts, including Christopher Olah, a co-founder of one of the world’s leading AI developers, Anthropic.

In a speech at the presentation, Leo stressed that the encyclical had been born out of a process of listening–to scientists and engineers developing AI; political leaders, parents, and teachers; and people concerned about autonomous weapons systems and various forms of exclusion happening on the basis of mass data gathering.

Leo recaps the evolution of Catholic Social Teaching through its major documents and by explaining its key principles, in many places anticipating and rebutting criticisms that the church should either stay out of politics or completely rule it.

He then moves on to the explicit examination of AI, its development and its effects on humanity in the spheres of education, labor, technology addiction, democracy and many other areas, giving concrete recommendations on how AI development could be better supervised by various configurations of local and international civil, religious and educational authorities. He denounces repeatedly the ways in which A.I. will exacerbate global inequalities, and how it is already concentrating power and decision-making in the hands of a minority of powerful individuals.

Leo stresses that, for all of us, the ethics of AI cannot be simplified into “good use of A.I. is good, evil use of A.I. is evil”—AI is not, he says, a morally neutral tool, but “embodies choices and priorities through what it measures, ignores and optimizes, and how it classifies people and situations.” In other words, the moral discernment of AI cannot merely look at the uses to which it is put, but also how it is designed and what vision of the human person and society” is embedded into it .

As expected, Leo turns to the use of A.I. in war. In a particularly interesting paragraph, he dismisses just war theory as “outdated,” saying it has “all too often been used to justify any kind of war” and that “Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness.”

The document ends with a long meditation on peace, in which Leo outlines “five paths toward daily and public responsibility.”

Magnifica Humanitas includes challenges and fruitful insights for everyone no matter their position in society, and we highly recommend giving it a read. You can find our full coverage, with many forthcoming analysis pieces, at AmericaMagazine.org, and tune in for an episode later this week in which we’ll dig deeper into this major encyclical.

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This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell look ahead to Pope Leo’s forthcoming encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which is rumored to be a long document dealing with themes of artificial intelligence and humanity. Ahead of the document’s expected release on May 25, Gerry and Colleen recap what is already known about the document, the Vatican’s previous work on A.I. and how encyclicals are written.

Links:

Pope Leo will publish first encyclical, ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ on preserving humanity in the A.I. age on May 25

Bishop Flores: Pope Leo’s AI encyclical is coming. Don’t let ChatGPT read it for you.

Explainer: Papal documents and their (different) levels of authority

Interview: Bishop Paul Tighe on the Vatican’s response to AI

What does the Vatican know about A.I.? A lot, actually.

Pope Leo’s encyclical comes just in time: AI is raising questions only religion can answer.

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This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Pope Leo XIV, along with recent developments between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X, which has committed to illicitly ordain bishops without the Vatican’s approval. In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry look at the pope’s visits to Pompeii and Naples, and Gerry explains why he thinks Pope Leo’s forthcoming encyclical won’t be published as expected on May 15.

Links from the show:

Vatican warns SSPX leaders of excommunication over ‘schismatic act’ of ordaining bishops

Pope Leo meets with Marco Rubio amid Trump’s personal attacks

Poll: Most Americans disapprove of Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo

Pope Leo prays for end to ‘fratricidal hatred’ as he celebrates anniversary in Pompeii

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One year ago today, Leo XIV was elected the first pope from the United States of America. A year into his papacy, we examine how the U.S. evolved from a nation with a long history of anti-Catholicism to one welcoming an American-born pope, and why the cardinals defied a longstanding taboo against a pope from a global superpower.

Interviews include:

- Kathleen Sprows Cummings, the John A. O’Brien Collegiate Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Notre Dame

- Christopher Lamb, CNN Vatican Correspondent and author of The Outsider: Pope Francis and the Battle to Reform the Church and American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the World

- J.D. Long García, senior editor at America

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This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry O’Connell gives Colleen Dulle an inside look at Pope Leo XIV’s visit to four African countries. Between speaking out against corruption in Cameroon, denouncing inequality in Angola and visiting a prison in Equatorial Guinea, Gerry notes that Pope Leo never strayed from his central message of peace and justice—even when a Truth Social post from U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to overshadow it.

0:00 Intro

1:02 Why did Pope Leo go to Africa?

5:20 Pope Leo visits the basilica of Augustine

10:00 Pope Leo’s messages to Algeria

14:57 Pope denounces corruption in Cameroon

22:40 Leo visits conflict zone in Cameroon

27:10 Leo urges church to speak out in Angola

31:07 Angola’s unequal economy

34:44 Equatorial Guinea gives Leo ‘colorful welcome’

36:49 Pope Leo’s memorable prison visit

41:47 Pope Leo in-air press conference

47:41 Outro and credits

Links:

Pope Leo walks in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Hippo

Pope Leo to Cameroon’s leaders: Break the ‘chains of corruption,’ invest in young people

Pope Leo denounces those who use the name God for military gain

Interview: Jesuit provincial on what Pope Leo’s visit meant for Cameroon

Pope Leo: I am ‘not trying to debate the president’

Pope Leo tells Angola’s Catholic leaders: ‘Never cease to denounce injustices.’

Pope Leo calls on leaders to ‘bridge the gap’ between poor and rich in Equatorial Guinea

Asked about regime change in Iran, Pope Leo says, ‘I cannot be in favor of war.’

Pope Leo speaks on same-sex blessings, migration and more on plane back to Rome

Pope Leo prays with Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally in historic encounter, vows dialogue

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This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Archbishop Joseph Marino, former president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy which trains Vatican diplomats, joins Colleen Dulle to give a crash course on Vatican Diplomacy: Who are nuncios? What do they do? And what difference do they really make?

Before the interview, Colleen also gives some updates on the week’s Vatican news.

00:00 Pope Leo wraps his trip to Africa

2:57 Meet Archbishop Joseph Marino

6:38 Nuncios, the Vatican's ambassadors

14:00 Do Nuncios have to be bishops?

18:25 Political diplomacy and Vatican interests

24:40 Vatican diplomacy before the Iraq war

27:08 The Vatican's diplomatic toolkit

30:15 Pope Leo's diplomatic approach

Links:

Pope Leo: I am ‘not trying to debate the president’

Pope Leo in Angola: ‘Put the common good before partisan interests’

Pope Leo to Angolans: ‘Build a country where old divisions are overcome forever’

Pope Leo tells Angola’s Catholic leaders: ‘Never cease to denounce injustices.’

Pope Leo remembers ‘the great gift’ of Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his death

Pope Francis remembered by those who knew him

Pope Leo’s delicate task in Equatorial Guinea: Bless the faithful, not the regime

Pope Leo calls on leaders to ‘bridge the gap’ between poor and rich in Equatorial Guinea

Pope Leo tells inmates ‘you are not alone’ during Equatorial Guinea prison visit at end of Africa tour

Pope Leo’s powerful lesson in vulnerable leadership

Pope Leo at year one: The progress of an American pope

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