What are we building? Pope Leo XIV puts that question to us in his new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. The title itself echoes Mary's Magnificat — the song of a humanity whose grandeur is recognized in being lifted up by God, not in seizing heaven for itself. That grandeur, the Pope insists, is revealed in its fullness only in Christ, and threatened today by new forms of dehumanization.

The encyclical takes its bearings from two biblical images: the Tower of Babel, where a unified language and a unified technology serve a project that aspires to reach heaven without God; and the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, where a city is reborn through prayer and the shared responsibility of all. Pope Leo asks us which of these we are building. Technology, he reminds us, is never neutral. It takes the character of those who devise, finance, and deploy it.

Brett Robinson joins me today to help us read this encyclical. Brett is my colleague here in the McGrath Institute for Church Life, where he leads our efforts in Catholic Media Studies.

Follow-up Resources:

• Magnifica Humanitas, Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIV
• "Dilexit Nos – Part 2, a conversation with Abigail Favale and Brett Robinson," podcast episode via Church Life Today
• "Edge of Belief: UFO's, Technology, and the Catholic Imagination, with Brett Robinson," podcast episode via Church Life Today
• "AI, Ethics, and the Common Good, with Adam Kronk," podcast episode via Church Life Today
• "AI, Education, and Doing Hard Stuff, with Adam Kronk," podcast episode via Church Life Today
• "The Next Wave of Artificial Intelligence and Our Humanity, with Stephanie DePrez," podcast episode via Church Life Today
• "Dilexi Te: On Love for the Poor, with Fr. Cristian Mendoza Ovando," podcast episode via Church Life Today
• "Habemus Papam, with John Cavadini," podcast episode via Church Life Today

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.