Pope Leo's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, just dropped and it
goes harder on AI, capitalism, and human dignity than anyone expected. Is this just a regulation document? Or is this document a call for Catholics to recover and embrace a deeper understanding of Catholic Social Teaching? 

In the first of our 3-part series, Edmund Mitchell sits down with three
Catholic experts working at the front lines of AI to discuss chapter five of the Pope’s new encyclical.

🟠 Expert Panelists

Matthew Harvey Sanders
Founder & CEO of Longbeard, creator of Magisterium AI (deployed in 190+ countries, 50 languages)

Dr. Brett Robinson 
Director, Church Communication Ecology Program,McGrath Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame

Fr. Jean Gové
Diocesan Coordinator for AI, Archdiocese of Malta; author of Malta's 2026 position paper on the ethical adoption of AI; Holy See representative at the Council of Europe on AI

🟠 We dig into:

— Why the Pope refuses to call AI "just a tool"
— "AI is not neutral" — what that actually means for the average user
— Whether the EU AI Act and the Vatican are using the same words to
  mean different things
— Why "becoming more human" is the litmus test Pope Leo keeps coming
  back to
— Why Anthropic sent Chris Olah and Amanda Askell to the encyclical's
  launch (and what that signals)
— Two practical questions to ask before opening any AI tool
— Digital sobriety, the family, and what the early Christian
  communities can teach us about living in a saturated AI environment
— Tower of Babel vs. the New Jerusalem — the recurring frame Pope Leo
  uses to read our moment

This is the first of three panel conversations on Magnifica Humanitas.
Subscribe so you don't miss Panels 2 and 3, dropping later this week.

🟠 CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome + introducing the panel
05:00 First impressions of Magnifica Humanitas
10:00 "The Pope didn't pull his punches"
13:00 Why AI is not neutral
16:00 Tool vs. environment 
21:00 Can education alone fix this? 
26:00 What does human flourishing actually look like?
35:00 The EU AI Act vs. the Vatican on "human dignity"
44:00 Should chatbots have to announce themselves?
52:00 Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, the "martyrs of everyday life"
01:04:00 Digital sobriety, the family, and parish life
01:11:00 Babel, Pentecost, and the bitrate of Christ
01:22:00 Fr. Gové's two questions for any AI interaction
01:25:00 Why it matters WHO is building these systems
01:29:00 Brett's practical shifts as an educator (and a parent)

🟠 LINKS

— Magisterium AI: https://magisterium.com

— McGrath Institute for Church Life: https://mcgrath.nd.edu

— Archdiocese of Malta Position Paper on AI: https://ms.knisja.mt/AI/Ethical_Adoption_of_AI.pdf

This episode is brought to you by ParishStaq by Pushpay — the
comprehensive parish platform built for Catholic parishes. Schedule a
live demo at https://pushpay.com

#PopeLeo #MagnificaHumanitas #FaithAndAI #CatholicAI

Learn more and access free resources at faithandaiproject.com.