Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Politics and Religion
Humanitas Magnifica: We have the Power to Turn AI for Good.

Humanitas Magnifica: We have the Power to Turn AI for Good.

Last updated on: June 12, 2026 at 10:35 am by Rebecca Hamilton

Humanitas Magnifica: We have the Power to Turn AI for Good. 2026-06-12T10:35:56-06:00 Rebecca Hamilton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Cemetery cross. Source: Flickr Creative Commons by https://www.flickr.com/photos/adselwood/

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Pope Leo says that the whole Church, which is to say, all of us, including you and me, should use AI as an opportunity for an Examen.

AI challenges humanity on every level. How we develop it, and what we do with it will determine what kind of future the human race will have, or, indeed, if the human race even has a future.

That makes AI and what we allow it to become a perfect Examen for the human race. AI lays bare how humanity places itself in the order of creation. It tells us if we really believe in human rights and human dignity, or if the only things we believe in are money and power.

We cannot allow AI to continue to be developed and owned by a handful of amoral billionaires whose only value and only morality is their own insane greed for money and power. If we’re going to survive, we have to care about more than things and our own hubris.

AI, built without morality or God, is Babel.

Pope Leo uses the Biblical example of the Tower of Babel to illustrate what will happen to us if we continue the way we have been going. When we knowingly choose moral degenerates who behave like gangsters for our leaders and allow them to remove any fear of the law from those who develop AI, we become complicit in the evils they do.

If we allow AI to be developed without any consideration of morality or what AI will do to people …

If we do not insist on the development of regulations for AI that are designed to preserve human life and human freedom …

If we do not hold the wealthiest and most powerful among us liable to any law …

If we leave God, basic morality and a rock hard imperative that the survival of the human race is non-negotiable …

Then AI will be as useless to moving humanity forward as Babel.

An edifice that is built without God, without morality, without the absolute conviction that a just and stable society is always the greater good, cannot stand.

We live at a time of significant spiritual and cultural blindness.

Pope Leo tells us that we live at a time of significant spiritual and cultural blindness. He says a false pragmatism has taken hold which urges us to sever ourselves from our history and act on the insane hubris that we are morally capable of being our own gods.

He says that even those who cite moral principles can fall into a historical nihilism and delude themselves into thinking that the atrocities of the 20th century — or much worse — cannot happen again. Yet, in reality, the same dynamics are re-emergng under new guises.

If you don’t understand what he is talking about, look around you.

If you want to see what humanity that has decided to make god in its own image does to itself look at us today. We are like the people of Babel, who thought that they could build right up to heaven and seat themselves on the throne of God by their own power. Like Babel, our hubris will be our destruction.

But there is another way. Pope Leo uses the story of how a man named Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem after they were razed and the people were taken into captivity.

Nehemiah followed God every step of the way. He did not exclude any of the people from having a voice in his building project. He brought them into the decision making, and he divided up the responsibility so that each of them had a share of the work and planning. Every objective criteria said that what Nehemiah was trying to do could not be done. But he succeeded.

That is the way we can build an AI that will not kill us. It is the way that we can have the benefits of AI and remain free.

Our challenge is to take back the power that is rightfully ours.

We have a huge challenge in front of us. That challenge is to take back the power that is rightfully ours. We cannot continue as we are going. We have to change.

The first and most important step in this is not political. We need to stop patronizing religion and start following God.

If we truly read Scripture instead of cherry-picking verses that we twist around out of context to justify what amounts to a rebellion against God, we will see that all human beings matter. Without an honest and humble understanding that only God is God and we are His beloved creation, anything we do will turn to destructiveness and evil.

We are fallen humanity, living in a fallen world. And that is the way it is. All the greed and insane ambition of all the billionaires in all the world cannot change it.

We must unite ourselves to Christ

But when we unite ourselves to Christ and act in the common good, we become Magnifica Humanitas: Magnificent Humanity. We become the creatures who twenty thousand years ago were huddling against the cold in caves and who now are reaching for the stars. We become what we were meant to be.

We need help. And help is there.

We have the Eucharist which allows us to partake of the Living Christ and be healed. We have confession, which, if we do it honestly and with true humility and desire to change, can slowly turn us from our sins and change us into better people.

We have the simple guardrails of the Ten Commandments.

We have the promise of the Beatitudes.

We have the prophets, who told us that that justice and mercy are what God desires of us.

We have a pope who is teaching us that it is time to stand, and in union with Christ, take back our humanity from the machines.

We have Jesus Christ, God made human, Who embodied the Law and the prophets right in front of us, Who told us explicitly what God desires of us in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus told us, without mincing any words, that when we stand before God, we will be judged by how we treat other people.

The “common good” isn’t just a pretty phrase. It’s the requirements of the Gospels, summed up in two words.

We don’t have to allow AI and a few billionaires destroy us.

We don’t have to die at the hands of a few men who have too much money and too much power for any small group of people. These men may see themselves as the gods of this world, but they are really sad little creatures who have sold their souls for nothing much. They’re pitiful and they deserve our compassion.

But we must not allow them and their sick greed and insane ambition to destroy us all. We need to take things back into our own hands.

But first we’ve got to clean our hands. We’re not especially moral or perfect ourselves. We’re just as weak, and can be every bit as delusional, self-serving and dishonest as those who are building this AI Babel.

Jesus Christ is our hope, and the way to our future.

Our only hope — not just for eternal life, but our only hope in this life — is Jesus Christ.

If we are going to survive, we need to stop following false teachers who cherry pick verses to justify evil. We need instead to follow God.

We must obey the Ten Commandments and insist that our leaders do the same. We’ve got stop dismissing the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of Christ and obey them.

Christians who dismiss the direct teachings of Christ as “liberal” or “woke” are not Christians. They’re self-righteous pretenders.

Entrust our efforts to Mary.

Pope Leo tells us to entrust our efforts to Mary. We’re having so much trouble accepting that Jesus meant what He said that I think we really do need somebody to intercede for us. I can’t think of anybody better than His mother.

We need to ask her to ask Him to do to us what He did to the water at the Wedding at Cana, to turn us into something useful and good.

We need God’s help to follow God. Fortunately for us, God has gone to great lengths to make Himself available to us.

Humanity hasn’t blown itself up with nuclear weapons because it chose not to.

We can do that same with AI. But we’ve got to choose to do it.

And then we have to do the work of making it happen.

Note: The phrasing that Jesus Christ is our hope and the way to our future is a play on Jeremiah 29:11. I’m trying to remind us that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. I quote that verse in full at the beginning of this post.

Previous Post

June 11, 2026

Magnifica Humanitas: Pope Leo Says No to AI Waging War

Next Post

June 13, 2026 Scientists Edit Genes in Human Embryos. What it Means.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Commandments 2012 Election 2016 Election 2020 Election 2022 Election 2024 Election Abortion Addiction Adult Day Care Advent Africa AI Alcoholism Alex Pretti Renee Good America American Citizenship American Fascism Announcement Anti Semitism Anti-Semitism Apologetics Archbishop Coakley Argentina Armenian Genocide Ash Wednesday Ballot Box Salvation Biden Big Beautiful Bill Bishop Black Mass Blasphemy Boko Haram Book Review Brainwashing Breast Cancer Bribery Calling Evil Good calling good evil Cancer Canonize Caregiving Catholic Catholic Vote Cause for Sainthood Chaos child abuse Child Labor Child Rearing Child Sacrifice Christian Bashers Christian Leadership Christian Persecution Christian Solidarity Christianity Christmas clergy Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal Climate Coakley Common Good Communion Communism Computers concentration camps Conclave Confession Consecration to Our Lady Conversion Coptic Christians Coronavirus Corporatism Corruption COVID Crisis Pregnancy Centers Culture D Day Death Death Penalty Dementia Democracy Designer Baby Destruction of the Family Dictator Dignity of Work Divine Mercy Novena Divine Mercy Sunday Divorce Doubt Drug Addiction easter Ebola Economics Education Egg Harvesting El Salvador Elderly Epiphany Epstein Eternal Life eternal life Eucharist Eugenics Euthanizing Children Euthansia evangelization Excommunicate Biden Extraterrestrial Life Failed Clergy Faith False Gods Family Fascism Fatherhood Feast of the Assumption First Amendment Flood the Zone Following Christ forced conversion Forgiveness Fortnight4Freedom fourth amendment Fr James Altman Fr Stanley Rother free press Freedom Freedom of Conscience freedom of religion Freedom of Speech Freedom of Worship vs Religious Freedom Geek Stuff Gender Theory Genocide God the Father Good Friday Gossip GQP Greenland Grief Gun Control Gun Violence Hate Blogs Health Health Care Heart Attack Heaven Hell Herod HHS Mandate History of the Crusades Holy Father Holy Father' Holy Father's Tweets Holy Matrimony Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Holy Thursday Holy Week Home Homeschooling homosexual Hospice Human Dignity Human Rights human trafficking Humor ICE Idolatry Immaculate Conception Immigration Incest Infertility Inspiration Iran War ISIS Islam Islamic Brotherhood Israel JD Vance Jesus Jobs Jordan Judas Judicial and Legislative Murder Judicial Murder July 4 Just War Justice Kavanaugh Ketanji Jackson Brown Laity Latin Mass Leadership Lent Less of Me Lying Lying for Trump Mad King MAGA Magnifica humanitas Mama Marriage Marriage Protection Amendment Martyr Media Bias Medicaid Men and Abortion Mercy Military Dictatorship Misogyny Motherhood Movie Review Murder Music National Catholic Register Nazi Clergy Neo Nazis New Category New Evangelism New Evangelization News Headlines Nigeria No Kings Novena for the Persecuted Church Nuns Obama Oklahoma Oscar Romero Our Lady Our National Embarrassment Pakistan Palm Sunday Papal Conclave Papal G8 Pedophile piano political priests Political Whore Clergy Politics Polygamy Pope Francis Pope Francis Visit United States Pope Leo XIV Pope's Prayer Intentions Pornography Post Christian West Poverty Prayer Prayers for the Persecuted Church Pro Life Prophecy Prostitution Purgatory Putin Quack Medicine Racism Rape Religious Freedom Renee Good Republican Republican priests Rerum Novarum Retirement Risen Lord Roe v Wade Rosary Sacrament Sacred Heart Sacrilege Saints Salvation Same Sex Marriage Sanctity of Human Life Satan Save Our Democracy scandal Scripture Shroud of Turin Sisters Slavery Social Justice Social Security Solidarity Cross St Michael the Archangel stations of the cross Stop Late Term Abortion Stroke Suicide Supreme Court Surrogacy Surveillance State Synod Syria Taliban Tariffs Taxes Technology Thanksgiving The Ascension The Cross The Locust Class The Political Heresy The Resurrection The Tomb The Transfiguration The Trinity The War on Girls Tornado Trauma Trump Trump Coup Trump Destroying America Trump's Coup Trump's War on the Rule of Law Trumpism Ukraine Uncategorized USAID USCCB Vatican Vatican Reform Violence Against Women Violence in America Vocation Voting Rights Wages Walk for Life War Weight Loss White House Why Aren't You a Feminist Too? Woke Women Leaders Women's Rights Worker's Rights World Hunger World War I World War III World Youth Day Worship Writing Year of Faith

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 October 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 August 2016 May 2016 April 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Jesus say would happen if you build your house on the rock?

Select your answer to see how you score.

It would be fancy It would stand through storms It would get destroyed It would sink