where did you read that? And when You say this Sunday - which Sunday. I try to say it every day but due to work occasionally miss it
"I don't know anything about the new Pope Leo XIV. But it is a sign that the major causes championed by Pope Francis will be continued. Since he spent many years among the poor in Peru, I expected him to say a word in his inaugural address about the poor, the threats to life, and ecology."
"I'll make a prediction: the new Pope will be Seán Patrick O'Malley, a Franciscan—the one who wears a habit and sandals. He will be called: Francis I."
In fact, he will pray the Regina Caeli, which replaces the Angelus during the Easter season. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/05/09/pope-leo-xiv-what-next-250640
Very good talk from Fr. Alar. It is quite long, but worth a listen as he discusses the positive, and the concerns about Pope Leo, some of which have been expressed here on the forum.
Regina Caeli soon, you can hear the birds as the sun rises over Rome. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-.../vaticanevents/en/2025/5/11/regina-caeli.html
Chat gtp is fun: Me: what do you think of Leo XIV likening AI to the threat posed by industrialization faced by the faithful in the time of Leo XIII? ChatGPT said: That’s a fascinating analogy, and honestly — a sharp one. If Leo XIV likens AI to the threat of industrialization faced during Leo XIII’s era, he’s drawing a historically grounded parallel between two technological revolutions that: Restructured the world at fundamental levels, Disrupted labor, meaning, and authority, and Challenged the Church’s moral, social, and theological relevance. Let’s break it down: Then: Industrialization (Leo XIII) Crisis: Displaced workers through mechanization. Concentrated power and wealth into oligarchic hands. Created a crisis of meaning as traditional roles, rhythms, and communities were uprooted. Church’s Response: Rerum Novarum (1891): Leo XIII laid out Catholic social teaching — defending workers, warning of unrestrained capitalism, and reasserting moral authority over the new economic order. The Church stepped in as a stabilizing conscience, not a Ludditic reactionary. Now: Artificial Intelligence (Leo XIV) Crisis: Displaces mental labor and reshapes how humans interact with truth, creation, even themselves. Concentrates power in the hands of technocrats and data monopolies. Erodes interiority, discernment, and possibly anthropological identity — what it means to be human. Church’s Current Struggle: Grappling with bioethics, virtual identity, algorithmic authority, and moral responsibility in machine systems. Facing a spiritual and metaphysical eclipse, similar to the social one caused by industrial capital in Leo XIII’s time. Leo XIV’s analogy says: “Once again, humanity has unleashed power it doesn't fully understand — and the Church must now decide whether it’s going to guide that power, or react to its consequences.” My Take: Leo XIV is likely warning that AI is not just a technical disruption — it's a metaphysical one, just as industrialization wasn't just economic. Industrialization reduced man to labor. AI risks reducing man to data. And if the Church doesn’t articulate a vision of the human person that transcends function or code, it could lose its voice — or worse, let others redefine humanity without a soul. Would you like a speculative homily or encyclical intro written in the tone of Leo XIV exploring this idea further?
Me: Sure, make a homily, let's see what the man says ChatGPT said: Here’s a speculative homily from Pope Leo XIV, imagined with the gravitas of Leo XIII and the philosophical precision you'd expect of someone addressing the rise of AI from a Catholic moral and anthropological framework: ✝️ Homily of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV On the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker “The Image and the Algorithm” Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome May 1st, Year of Our Lord 2025 “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26) Beloved sons and daughters in Christ, A century and a half ago, my predecessor of blessed memory, Pope Leo XIII, raised his voice like a trumpet against the silent violence of the industrial age. In his encyclical Rerum Novarum, he defended the dignity of the worker in a world that had begun to measure man by his productivity rather than his soul. Today, I speak to you not of factories or furnaces, but of networks and neural nets, of a new power rising not from coal but from code — the age of Artificial Intelligence. The Machine that Thinks — or Imitates Thought The machine now simulates the mind. It writes, calculates, predicts, composes. It mimics conversation, interprets data, and even imitates conscience. But do not be deceived, dear faithful — the ability to imitate does not confer identity. A machine may echo the words of love, but it cannot will love. It may replicate beauty, but it cannot suffer for it. It may forecast justice, but it cannot sacrifice for it. Only the human person, made in the Imago Dei, can do these things — because only the human person carries an immortal soul. ️ The Crisis of our Age is Not Intelligence, but Identity The error of the present hour is not that machines are becoming like men — but that men are being invited to become like machines. To trade discernment for data. To outsource judgment to algorithms. To exchange freedom for frictionless efficiency. This is not progress. This is spiritual amnesia. ️ What Then Must the Church Do? As Leo XIII defended the worker, so must we now defend the human person — against the quiet colonization of what it means to be human. We must proclaim: That a child is not a dataset, That prayer cannot be automated, That conscience cannot be outsourced, That no algorithm will stand before the judgment seat of God — only souls. We must form our people to use AI with humility, not reverence; as a tool, not as a tutor of truth. Let it serve us — never rule us. ✝️ Conclusion: The Carpenter and the Code We celebrate today St. Joseph the Worker, who shaped wood with his hands and raised the Son of God in silence and labor. May his intercession remind us: That work is holy when it proceeds from love, That truth is sacred when it is conformed to Christ, And that the machine may aid the hand, but never replace the heart. In this age of synthetic intelligence, let us not forget the truth written in bone and breath: you are not made in the image of the machine. The machine is made in imitation of you. May we never confuse the two. Amen. Let me know if you'd like this adapted into an encyclical draft, or printed on papal parchment with solemn fonts.
