The Pope’s Defense of Human Imperfection
The Vatican's encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, addresses the implications of artificial intelligence while defending human imperfection. Pope Leo XIV emphasizes that human limitations foster compassion and creativity, contrasting with the dangers of outsourcing moral decisions to machines. The document serves as a reminder of the inherent dignity of humanity amidst the rise of technology.
- ▪The encyclical is the first official Catholic document to address AI.
- ▪Pope Leo XIV argues that human imperfection is a source of beauty and dignity.
- ▪The document warns against allowing machines to usurp human moral decision-making.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
IdeasThe Pope’s Defense of Human ImperfectionThe Vatican’s encyclical about AI is actually about what technology can never do.By Elizabeth BruenigIllustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.May 27, 2026, 9:45 AM ET ShareSave After the Lord sent a great flood to rid the world of evil, people gathered in Babylonia and began baking bricks—a recent advancement. In those days all humans spoke the same language, and they used those bricks to build a tower that embodied their limitless ambitions. And so the Lord imposed a panoply of tongues, thereby deterring the creation of any new technology that might aspire to divine power and glory.The Lord may have delayed such technologies, but he didn’t preempt them entirely.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Atlantic.
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