Austen Ivereigh

12 years on, people ask: how can we follow the path the Pope is calling us to? For parishes, communities and the curious, I have written a retreat “with” Francis, based on the Ignatian Exercises which shaped him. In English, español, français, italiano and português.

Asked by journalists tonight about AI and whether dialogue with such companies would continue, Pope responded: “We have already continued it today.” He added that a meeting had taken place between the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and several individuals working at the technology firm Anthropic. “The invitation extended yesterday by both sides demonstrates—in my view—just how vital it is to sustain this dialogue and to genuinely strive for a 'disarmed' form of artificial intelligence.”

Hey lazy people: the Vatican made infographics for you

The expansion of Israeli settlements is designed to wipe Palestinian villages off the map, as I said in Parliament. Enough hesitation - it’s past time for: ➡️ fresh sanctions ➡️ ban on trade with Israeli settlements ➡️ ban on British charities funnelling money to settlements

@azali_bolingo When you read it you’ll see it spells out principles that should guide policies, but it’s the task of government, not the Church, to devise concrete policies. Church lays down framework for discernment — moral guidelines, if you will.

I keep seeing this on the timeline but no 1 can give 1 concrete policy that the encyclical gives us. 1 that actually materially improves the lives most negatively affected by AI. I’m starting to think that this is not a case of the church not having all the answers, so much as the church has none of the answers

Magnifica is magnificent: a charter for our times, and the birth of a new era of Catholic social teaching, calling us to take a stand in the workshop of our world: to be Team Nehemiah in a world in hock to the Babel builders.

Gaza, West Bank, southern Lebanon: “scandals that wound humanity itself”. #magnificahumanitas

Francis used to say, look at who profits from war to understand why war persists— above all, those who make and sell weapons. In Magnifica Leo names it, and calls it out. The arms market is “an autonomous driving force” behind the decision to go to war.

Pope Leo’s first encyclical tackles A.I., power and human dignity - America Magazine americamagazine.org/vatican-dispat…

In Fratelli Tutti Francis asked why it took so long for the Church to condemn slavery. In Magnifica Humanitas Leo goes further, noting how the Church was actively complicit in its institution.

@DavQuinn @shakespeare34 The only just war is essentially self-defence narrowly prescribed. In other words, war can no longer be justified as a means of securing political change.

@austeni @shakespeare34 But what happens if you are invaded? Should Ukraine practice 'active nonviolence'? (This is not a 'gotcha' question).

@DavQuinn @shakespeare34 Active nonviolence

@shakespeare34 But everything can be misinterpreted. If you withdraw the theory, then what do you have?

First papal encyclical to name-check Vatican journalists?

Pope Leo delivers on a people-first vision for AI religionnews.com/2026/05/25/in-…

With his first encyclical, Pope Leo hits it out of the ballpark religionnews.com/2026/05/25/wit…

Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026) vatican.va/content/leo-xi…

Starting shortly. (Pic via press pool)

In leaked audio recordings, Peter Thiel revealed he told JD Vance to ignore Pope Leo XIV on moral issues, including the development of ethical AI. Calling Leo XIV the “woke American pope,” he also suggested the American pope was a tool of the Antichrist. Now, Pope Leo XIV is releasing what’s expected to be an historic encyclical addressing AI tomorrow morning. thelettersfromleo.com/p/new-jd-vance…

Would this be the same Bishop Barron who in his 2009 essay ‘the fetishism of dialogue’ criticised U Notre Dame for hosting then President Obama, saying “one should, in certain circumstances, be suspicious of dialogue”? wordonfire.org/articles/barro…

Pope Leo on Pentecost: “With fervent hearts, let us pray today that the Spirit of the risen One may save us from the evil of war, which is overcome not by a superpower, but by the omnipotence of love. Let us pray that he free humanity from misery, which is redeemed not by immeasurable wealth, but by an inexhaustible gift.”vatican.va/content/leo-xi…

@EversonMeverson The grace of AI is that it forces us to face up to the responsibility of our human nature

@austeni Very useful: a secular ethical debate surely has to struggle with challenges to subjectivity posed by AI before it can set the relational boundaries between self and technology? The theological human is perhaps not challenged in se by AI so that boundaries can be set far faster?

Many media narratives will tomorrow cast Magnifica Humanitas in moralistic terms that focus on the tech: Pope condemns, Pope warns, etc. But its deeper purpose is to tell a story about what it means to be a human in this time. Get that right, and the moral choices become clear.