In this episode of Inside the Pages, Kris McGregor talks with Dr. Matthew Bunson about St. Kateri: Lily of the Mohawks, published by Our Sunday Visitor. Dr. Bunson reflects on the life and witness of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the young Native American woman whose heroic faith made her one of the most beloved saints of North America. Though she died at only 24 and was a Christian for just a few years, Kateri’s life revealed extraordinary courage, purity, perseverance, and love for Christ. Dr. Bunson explains how her conversion, her refusal to marry, her vow of chastity, and her willingness to endure rejection from her own community all point to a soul entirely given to Jesus.

The conversation also places St. Kateri within the larger story of the North American martyrs, the Jesuit missionaries known as the black robes, and the spiritual legacy of the Church in New France. Dr. Bunson highlights Kateri’s mystical depth, her suffering after smallpox, her devotion to Christ, and the way her sanctity was recognized almost immediately after her death. Her life remains a powerful witness for young people, for those who suffer, for those who face rejection because of faith, and for anyone seeking courage in a culture often hostile to holiness. This episode invites listeners not only to learn about St. Kateri but also to pray with her and ask her intercession as part of the great cloud of witnesses.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

This authoritative account of the first Native American woman to be declared a saint by the Church is sure to inspire you. Discover an extraordinary young woman who was called by Pope Blessed John Paul II, God’s “bountiful gift” to His Church and a “sweet, frail yet strong figure of a young woman who died when she was only twenty-four years old: Kateri Tekakwitha, the ‘Lily of the Mohawks.'”

Kateri was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Kateri Tekakwitha’s faith and love for Christ in the face of overwhelming hostility and her own debilitating illnesses will encourage you as you seek God’s grace to overcome challenges in your own life! She is a powerful role model for converts to the Church, young people striving for chastity, and anyone looking to deepen their own prayer life. She is also a shining example that God’s call to holiness is truly universal and is heard by men and women in all walks of life and all ages.

Written by experienced and prolific authors Matthew and Margaret Bunson, St. Kateri: Lily of the Mohawks is the most definitive biography of Kateri Tekakwitha.

Experience the extraordinary stories of the French Jesuit missionaries, the famed Blackrobes,” in the wilderness of North America and the heroic conversions of the Native Americans to the Catholic faith. Follow Kateri’s life from when she contracted smallpox as a toddler – a disease that swept through her village – claiming her family and leaving her severely disfigured and half-blinded. Drawn to the Catholic faith by the Bible stories and teachings of the French Jesuits, Kateri amazed them by her perfection of the virtues, her mystical prayer life, and her total love for Christ.

Kateri Tekakwitha’s life of faith is an inspiration to everyone!

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s teaching on truth as a common good. The Holy Father reminds us that the digital transformation is reshaping the way we communicate, learn, work, argue, search for answers, and form opinions. In this environment, truth must be sought, protected, and shared with responsibility.

This reflection considers how digital platforms and artificial intelligence can foster dialogue and participation, but can also blur the line between truth and falsehood. A headline, video, post, rumor, fabricated quote, or misleading summary can move quickly before anyone has time to examine it. Pope Leo XIV warns that disinformation did not begin with AI, but AI can make it more powerful.

Through the light of Ephesians 4:25, this episode invites us to speak truthfully because we belong to one another in Christ. A discerning heart slows down before sharing, verifies before repeating, distinguishes fact from opinion, and asks whether its words serve charity, communion, and the dignity of the person.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Four, nos. 131 – 132:

“In light of the principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine, the digital transformation invites us to rediscover truth as a common good, to protect the dignity of work and to safeguard freedom against all forms of dependence and commercialization.”

“The use of digital platforms and AI systems is driving profound changes in public and political communication. Tools that could foster dialogue and participation are often used to construct distorted narratives and blur the boundaries between truth and falsehood, mixing facts with opinions.”

“Disinformation did not begin with AI, yet today it finds a powerful amplifier in AI.”

Ephesians 4:25, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s teaching on human limitation, weakness, and grace. The Holy Father warns that our age often sees incapacity, illness, old age, suffering, and vulnerability as defects to be corrected, rather than realities through which our humanity can mature and open itself to relationship.

This reflection considers how easily weakness can become a place of shame. A person may fear needing help, feel embarrassed by dependence, resent the limits of illness, or believe that failure has become the final word. Pope Leo XIV reminds us that the Christian answer is not enhanced self-sufficiency, but a relationship that liberates and a communion that transforms.

Through the light of 2 Corinthians 12:9, this episode invites us to bring our limits honestly before Christ. A discerning heart learns that shame and isolation do not come from the Lord. Grace does not erase our humanity. Grace heals, lifts, and transforms it, allowing even our wounds and limitations to become places where love can enter.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Three, nos. 118 and 124:

“Our relationship with life seems to be in crisis today. Everything that appears as a ‘limit’ — incapacity, illness, old age, suffering, vulnerability — tends to be seen primarily as a defect to be corrected, rather than as a reality through which our humanity matures and opens itself to relationship.”

“When we embrace the possibility of transcending ourselves through God’s grace, we do not deny our nature, nor do we become less human.”

“What saves humanity is not enhanced self-sufficiency, but a relationship that liberates, a communion that transforms.”

2 Corinthians 12:9, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s warning about what must not be lost in the age of artificial intelligence. The Holy Father teaches that the danger is not only the misuse of certain technologies, but the spread of an anti-human vision in which efficiency, control, and optimization become the measure of life.

This reflection considers how easily the human person can be reduced to a project to be improved, managed, or measured. A worker can become a set of performance numbers. A student can see learning only as competition. A caregiver can feel the frustration of love that cannot be made efficient. Even a ministry can be tempted to measure spiritual fruit only by reach, data, response, or growth.

Pope Leo XIV gives us a different measure: the quality of a civilization is seen in the care it is able to offer. Through the light of Matthew 9:36, this episode invites us to recover the human gestures that keep love alive. A discerning heart asks where it has treated someone as a task, interruption, or function, and where the Holy Spirit is inviting real care, patient presence, and recognition of the face before us.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Three, nos. 112-114:

“The risk extends beyond the misuse of certain technologies. More gravely, the pervasive technocratic paradigm in which we are immersed, and that is amplified by the digital revolution and AI, threatens to normalize an anti-human vision.”

“When efficiency becomes the ultimate measure of value, human beings are tempted to see themselves as a project to be optimized rather than as persons called to relationship and communion.”

“The quality of a civilization is measured not by the power of its means, but by the care it is able to offer, by its ability to recognize the other as a face not merely as a function.”

Matthew 9:36, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s call to “disarm” artificial intelligence. The Holy Father is not calling for the rejection of technology, but for technological power to be freed from rivalry, secrecy, monopolistic control, and domination, so that it may truly serve the human person.

This reflection considers why responsibility, transparency, oversight, participation, and subsidiarity matter in the development and use of AI. People and communities should not be passive recipients of decisions made by distant systems, powerful platforms, or hidden algorithms. When technology affects access, work, medical care, services, communication, or daily life, human dignity requires that people have a voice, a way to ask questions, and a path to correct what harms the vulnerable.

Through the light of Micah 6:8, this episode invites us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God wherever power touches human life. A discerning heart asks who is affected, who has a voice, who is protected, and whether technology is helping us become more responsible, more humane, and more attentive to the person behind the system.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Three, nos. 108-110:

“Communities and intermediary organizations must not be reduced to passive recipients of decisions made elsewhere; they must be able to contribute to discernment and oversight.”

“To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity. It means freeing technology from monopolistic control and opening it to discussion and debate, therefore making it human-friendly and restoring it to the plurality of human cultures and ways of life.”

Micah 6:8, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s teaching that artificial intelligence can imitate certain functions of human intelligence, while remaining profoundly different from the human person. The Holy Father recognizes the real benefits of AI, especially its ability to process information quickly, assist with complex tasks, and offer practical help in many fields.

This reflection considers why discernment is needed when a tool becomes impressive enough to imitate language, empathy, and understanding. AI can summarize, analyze, draft, translate, and generate responses, but it does not love, suffer, forgive, pray, take responsibility, or grow through grace. It has no body, conscience, or personal relationship with God.

Through the light of Psalm 119:66, this episode invites us to ask God for good judgment and knowledge. A discerning heart uses tools with freedom and vigilance. It does not surrender thinking, prayer, study, conscience, or real human relationship to the search for ready-made answers. AI may assist the human person, but it cannot replace the human journey of becoming wise in Christ.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Three, nos. 99-100:

“These systems merely imitate certain functions of human intelligence. In doing so, they often surpass human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, offering tangible benefits across many fields. Yet this power remains entirely tied to data processing.”

“AI can be a valuable tool and, at the same time, calls for a measured and vigilant approach… The speed and simplicity with which information, complex analyses, media content and practical assistance can be accessed undoubtedly makes life easier. Yet they can also encourage excessive reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and weaken personal creativity and judgment.”

Psalm 119:66, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s warning about the technocratic paradigm. The Holy Father teaches that technology is not simply a tool when it becomes the standard by which everything is judged. When efficiency, control, profit, and measurable results become the main measure of decisions, the dignity of the human person can be pushed aside.

This reflection considers how the technocratic mindset enters ordinary life. Workplaces can prize productivity while ignoring exhaustion. Schools can reduce a struggling child to a score. Health systems can become efficient while leaving the elderly unseen. Even ministry can be tempted to measure fruit only by numbers, clicks, downloads, or reach, rather than by the hidden work of grace in the soul.

Through the light of Matthew 16:26, this episode invites us to ask what truly measures a human life. A discerning heart notices where efficiency has become more important than love, where technology has begun to shape impatience, and where the Holy Spirit is calling us back to the slower, deeper measure of Christ.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Three, nos. 92-94:

“Technology is not simply a tool. When it becomes the standard by which everything is judged, it begins to dictate what matters and what can be discarded, reducing creation to an object of exploitation and human beings to mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency.”

“Technological progress, valuable in itself, requires careful discernment of the anthropological vision that guides it and the ends it pursues. If technological development advances without a corresponding ethical and social progress, the result may be an increase in means without a growth in humanity: ‘having more’ without ‘being more.’”

Matthew 16:26, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s teaching that social justice is a concrete way of following Jesus and remaining faithful to the Gospel. The Holy Father reminds us that Christ identifies Himself with the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the stranger, and the vulnerable. Justice begins when the “least among us” is no longer an idea, but a person placed before us.

This reflection considers how the Gospel sharpens our sight and asks us to notice those who are easily overlooked. The elderly neighbor, the family embarrassed to ask for help, the person who stands alone after Mass, the worker treated as disposable, and the person excluded by poverty, illness, or lack of access all belong within the concern of Christian love.

Pope Leo XIV also brings this teaching into the world of technology and artificial intelligence. Innovations can foster participation and justice, or they can deepen inequality, control, and exclusion. Through the light of Matthew 25:40, this episode invites us to ask whether our choices help others live with greater dignity, deeper communion, and more room for God.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Two, nos. 77 and 85:

“For the Christian community, social justice is a concrete way of following Jesus and remaining faithful to the Gospel. In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims the ‘good news to the poor’ (Lk 4:18) and identifies himself with the lowly, the sick, the imprisoned and strangers (cf. Mt 25:31-46).”

“Technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, are not neutral, for they can either foster participation and justice or exacerbate inequality, control and exclusion. For this reason, they must be evaluated by asking a crucial question: Do they truly help individuals and peoples to become more humane and fraternal, while respecting our common home and future generations?”

Matthew 25:40, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s teaching on subsidiarity and solidarity. These two principles help us understand how responsibility should be shared, how people should be allowed to participate, and how our lives are entrusted to one another.

Pope Leo XIV teaches that subsidiarity honors responsibility at the level closest to the people affected. Families, local communities, parishes, teachers, caregivers, workers, and those closest to a need often carry knowledge that distant systems may miss. This principle matters in daily life, and it also matters in the digital world, where powerful platforms, algorithms, and institutions can make decisions that shape access, visibility, work, communication, and belonging.

Solidarity completes this vision by reminding us that no one is saved alone. Through the light of 1 Corinthians 12:26, this episode invites us to recognize that the suffering or flourishing of one member touches the whole body. A discerning heart asks where it may be taking over, where it may be withdrawing, and where the Holy Spirit is inviting shared responsibility, participation, communion, and love.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Two, nos. 68, 70, and 73:

“The principle of subsidiarity stems from the very same understanding of the human person that has guided our reflection on dignity and the common good. If every woman and man is called to take ownership of his or her own life and to contribute to the formation of society, then social institutions must also respect and support this responsibility.”

“In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, decisions are made at the closest level possible to the persons involved, thereby fostering community life and avoiding people being presented with decisions that have already been taken.”

“Solidarity, then, is the concrete recognition that the future of each individual is connected to the future of all; indeed, ‘no one is saved alone.’”

1 Corinthians 12:26, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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In this episode of Magnificent Humanity for the Discerning Heart, we reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s teaching on the universal destination of goods. The Holy Father reminds us that the goods of the earth, including soil, water, air, and natural resources, are gifts from God, entrusted to the whole human family for the life and dignity of all.

This reflection considers how Pope Leo XIV brings this ancient principle into the digital age. The universal destination of goods now also includes immaterial and cultural goods, such as knowledge, patents, algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructure, and data. When these goods are concentrated in the hands of a few, new forms of exclusion and imbalance can arise.

Through the light of Psalm 24:1, this episode invites us to receive everything as agift. A discerning heart asks how its resources, knowledge, access, and influence can become channels of God’s care for others. The Lord teaches us gratitude without grasping, stewardship without pride, and generosity that honors the dignity of the whole human family.

Selection from Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter Two, nos. 65 and 67:

“First of all, this principle reminds us that the earth’s goods — soil, water, air and natural resources — are given by God to the entire human family to sustain the lives of all, and that every person has an inherent right to the use of such goods, both now and in the future… Today, we are called to recognize that this universal destination applies not only to material goods, but also to immaterial and cultural goods.”

“Today, among the goods that are universally intended for everyone, we must also include new forms of property, such as patents, algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructure and data. In a context where the wealth of nations depends increasingly on knowledge and technology, when these goods remain concentrated in the hands of a few, without adequate forms of sharing and access, a new imbalance is created that contradicts the universal destination of goods.”

Psalm 24:1, RSV–Catholic Edition

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print, or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

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