Hayward: Pope Leo’s ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ — The Word Became Flesh, But Can It Become Code?

Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence is unusual in its intense focus on a single new technology.

The document draws parallels to previous times of cultural and technological upheaval, all the way back to the Tower of Babel, but consistently conveys the sense that AI is something new — an unprecedented challenge to human dignity and spirituality.

Pope Leo frequently returns to the theme of uniformity versus communion, stressing that the quest for uniformity is sterile, mechanistic, and prone to tyrannical abuse, while communion is voluntary and joyous, bringing people together with each other and God. The encyclical asserts that, while AI might become smarter than any one of us, it will never be able to match the unexpected and delightful achievements of all of us — the unpredictable genius of magnificent humanity.

The pope’s Tower of