The Bishops' Conference of Scotland

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗼 𝗫𝗜𝗩: 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘀
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟯 – 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜

At the heart of Chapter 3 is an analysis of the relationship between technology, power and the human person, with a view to situating the promises of artificial intelligence within a broader cultural transformation that questions the very meaning of progress. Technological development is recognised as an expression of human creativity, but the text also warns against the risk of it becoming an absolute criterion of judgement, giving rise to what the text defines as a technocratic paradigm, capable of reducing reality to what is measurable, calculable and optimisable.

In this context, artificial intelligence appears as a powerful tool, capable of offering real benefits, but also of amplifying forms of domination when separated from an ethical and anthropological orientation. The text warns that the growth of technical power does not automatically coincide with the good, recalling that ‘more powerful does not necessarily mean better’. The decisive criterion is the dignity of the person and not the efficiency of the means.

The fundamental distinction between human intelligence and artificial intelligence runs throughout the chapter. Although AI systems can imitate certain languages and behaviours, they remain foreign to truly human experience. The text states, in fact, that ‘artificial intelligences do not experience life, do not possess a body, do not experience joy and pain, and do not know from within what love, work and responsibility mean’. For this reason, they cannot assume moral responsibility nor understand the ultimate meaning of the decisions they help to generate. The risk becomes particularly serious when artificial intelligence is involved in decision-making processes that directly affect people’s lives, reputations, access to opportunities and rights. In such cases, the apparent neutrality of algorithms can lead to exclusions that are difficult to avoid. The text warns that ‘entrusting an algorithm entirely with the power to declare who deserves and who does not means redefining the boundaries of human possibilities’, with a consequent loss of political and moral responsibility.

Considerable attention is devoted to a critique of transhumanist and post humanist narratives, which interpret progress as the overcoming of human limitations. These are countered by a vision in which limitation is not a flaw to be eliminated, but a constitutive dimension of the person. It is clearly stated that ‘the human being does not flourish in spite of limitation, but often through limitation’, recognising in weakness and vulnerability the places where relationships, care and openness to others flourish.

Read the full document by visiting: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Pope Leo XIV has released his first Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.

Magnifica Humanitas offers insights into the protection of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, recognising a profound epochal shift. It places the dignity of the human person at the centre as the criteria for guiding technical progress.

The Church’s social teaching accompanies these transformations, pointing to the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity as the fundamental benchmarks for understanding and interpreting the transformation currently underway. It proposes, as an alternative to the culture of power and war, a civilisation of love founded on justice, dialogue and shared responsibility.

We encourage everyone to take time to read and reflect on this important moment in the life of the Church.

https://www.humandevelopment.va/en/magnifica-humanitas.html

Vatican Live

Press conference on the First Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV’s, Magnifica Humanitas, which focuses on artificial intelligence.

Gospel
John 19:25-34
‘Behold, your son! Behold, your mother!’

At that time: Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished’, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.