Rerum Novarum was written in the context of a growing Marxist understanding that was based on a particular anthropology that, instead of “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am), posited that “faciens ergo sum” (I create/produce, therefore I am). Marx’s thought was based on a belief in the unique human quality of being able to produce using creativity, energy, and the tools of labor that we produce. Just as Rerum Novarum was issued as a corrective to this reductionist understanding of the human person, the opening sections of Magnifica Humanitas are dedicated to clarifying what it means to be human. This is important as an introduction, because the pope lays out the anthropological vision that should undergird our evaluation of technology. As he says, “technological progress — valuable in itself — requires careful discernment of the anthropological vision that guides it and the ends it pursues” (No. 94).
First, we are created in the image of God. Our tradition portrays God as a trinity, that is, marked by diversity in communion; life as relational; and self-giving the definition of what it means to be divine and truly human. The document states that “[c]reated for relationship, every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with him, with others and with creation” (No. 50).
While we are not simply defined by intelligence, we are rational beings in communion. That means that our rationality needs to be developed in a communicative fashion. And decisions need to be made in a democratic manner. Therefore, space must be structured to allow all people to participate equally in developing policies and rules that govern the common good. Thus, the document “values democracy insofar as it guarantees the effective participation of citizens, enables them to elect and peacefully replace their leaders and prevents power from being monopolized by small elite groups” (No. 39). Because we are relational, we have shared responsibility for the common good.
But we are much more than simply intelligence. We have emotions such as affection, the ability to love, empathy, sympathy, and to weep in grief, sorrow, and pain. This takes us back to being relational and in solidarity with one another. It is also the hallmark by which he criticizes transhumanist and post-humanist theories that limit humanness to intelligence. “These perspectives form the ideological background present in some centers of technological power and occupy the collective imagination in a simplified form, especially in the media and on social networks. They tend to foster enthusiasm for new technologies through a futuristic vision of an ‘enhanced human being’ or ‘human-machine hybrid’” (No. 115).
Work is a fundamental dimension of human existence. It is central to the very essence of what it means to be human, to participate in the divine’s creative process to bring about a better world. “Work is not simply an instrument; it expresses and enhances the dignity of our lives. It is a requirement of the human condition, a normal path toward maturity, development, and personal fulfilment. In this regard, financial assistance to the poor may at times be necessary in emergencies, but it cannot become the sole response since the goal is to enable each person to live with dignity through his or her own work” (No. 149).
Finally, while created in the image of God, we are not God. Another integral part of being human is imperfection. We are not perfect and imperfection adds to our humanness. “It is precisely within our limitations that the following find a place: compassion, as well as a sincere concern for the needs of others; a generosity that can emerge even in the midst of darkness and failure; spiritual experience and the worship of God. We see this at many moments when our limits become tangible: when we face rejection, when we suffer the illness or loss of a loved one, when we encounter our own weakness or failure. Mysteriously, it is precisely in such moments that we can discover a new wisdom, tangibly experience the closeness of others, and encounter the presence of the Lord.”
The Tower of Babel symbolizes all those elements that hinder us from being human: rational, relational, emotional, and creative beings seeking, with all our imperfections, the fullness of life for all humanity.
As Pope Leo XIV said: “In the era of artificial intelligence … ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human” (No. 15).
FAITH IN ACTION: Read the full text of Magnifica Humanitas.
Read and share the Maryknoll Joint Leadership Statement to learn our response to the encyclical.
Watch the recording of our webinar “Magnifica Humanitas: Disarming AI, Being Fully Human, and Integral Ecology” to hear the response of leading Catholic minds to the pope’s teaching in the encyclical.
Featured image: This is Pieter Bruegel’s 1563 painting of the “Tower of Babel.” In “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo XIV writes that humanity “is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together.” (OSV News/Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum)
