Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's document on AI episode artwork

EPISODE · May 29, 2026 · 58 MIN

Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's document on AI

from The Home Front · host Leila Marie Lawler and Phil Lawler

Note Bene: We read the entire encyclical and we didn’t use AI. And we don’t use AI to draft, write, or edit our own writing!Show Notes:Full text of the encyclicalAnthropic co-founder Chris Olah’s remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica humanitas”The importance of Pope Leo’s first encyclical (Phil’s preview of the encyclical— posted before it appeared)Pope Leo breaks new ground with encyclical on AI (News/Analysis by Phil, posted on the day it appeared)No, the just-war tradition is not ‘outdated’ (Phil’s comment on the encyclical’s treatment of just-war theory, which we didn’t even have a chance to discuss in our podcast)Promise and problems in Magnifica Humanitas (Phil’s reflections a few days after publication)Other interesting analyses of the encyclical:Idols of the Valley (Yuhal Levin in New Atlantis)Pope Leo Isn’t Standing Athwart the Singularity (Ross Douthat in the New York Times) (archived here)Between Thomas Aquinas and Silicon Valley: The first encyclical of Leo XIV (David Berger)AI Chatbots are Evil by Marc BarnesMore on what we recommend on Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law in general:Whether the intellect is a power of the soul? Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologiae Divini Illius Magistri, encyclical on Christian education, Pius XI (1929); good overview of “the three societies” of flourishing human life.Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching by Anthony Esolen (affiliate link)Knowledge and Decisions, by Thomas Sowell (affiliate link)Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

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Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's document on AI

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Note Bene: We read the entire encyclical and we didn’t use AI. And we don’t use AI to draft, write, or edit our own writing!Show Notes:Full text of the encyclicalAnthropic co-founder Chris Olah’s remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica...

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