Unpacking Pope Leo's AI Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas | Michael Gormley | Last Call Ep. 23
July 16, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readUnpacking Pope Leo's AI Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas
The Pope opens his encyclical with an Augustinian image: humanity faces a choice between building a new Tower of Babel or rebuilding the city where God and dwell together. Michael Gormley, a lay evangelist who has read the document multiple times, points out that both are construction projects—but one glorifies man apart from God, while the other rebuilds walls of fraternal coexistence. The Tower of Babel was humanity saying "we will meet God on our terms"; Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem involved walking out and fixing whatever section of wall was in front of you. For Gormley, this biblical framing captures the central tension around AI: we can use it to serve humanity or to dominate other humans through technology.
Technology That Acts on Us
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Pints With Aquinas
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 Main Outline
- 2 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & Advertisements** - Episode opens with commercials for Nordstrom Rack, Pluto TV, and Nespresso before transitioning to the main content.
- 3 (01:27) **Framing the Encyclical: Social Justice, Not Just AI** - Gormley explains that *Magnifica Humanitas* is primarily a social justice encyclical that mentions AI, not an AI encyclical per se, unlike *Antiqua et Nova* under Pope Francis.
- 4 (02:49) **The Two Cities: Babel vs. Jerusalem** - Opening quote from Pope Leo presents humanity's pivotal choice between constructing a new Tower of Babel or building the city where God and humanity dwell together.
- 5 (06:29) **Technology Is Never Neutral** - Pope Leo's paragraph 9 states that technology takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate, and use it.
- 6 (09:19) **The Threat of Dehumanization** - Pope Leo's paragraph 15 warns of "new forms of dehumanization" and calls for safeguarding human grandeur that no machine can replace.
- 7 (14:50) **Just War Theory and Autonomous Weapons** - Gormley addresses Pope Leo's controversial statement that just war theory is "now outdated" in light of modern weaponry.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
It’s Last Call! And Michael "Gomer" Gormley is here with hot takes on some of Pope Leo’s AI encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.
Pints: Last Call Ep. 23
Enjoy these episodes and exclusive content ad free, one week early with DailyWire+ : https://get.dailywire.com
- - -
📚Resources Mentioned:
More from Michael Gormley: https://www.layevangelist.com
Catching Foxes Podcast: https://www.catchingfoxes.fm
Every Knee Shall Bow Podcast: https://app.ascensionpress.com/podcasts/8f60ee88-7f3d-40a2-a877-3fe7f53dbb0e?utm_source=ascension-shopify&utm_medium=website&utm_content=podcast-library
Truthy 30 Day Free Trial: https://get.truthly.ai/TlbX/MATT30
- - -
Today’s Sponsors:
Exodus 90: Download the Exodus 90 app today, or visit https://Exodus90.com/matt
St. Paul Center: Start your 30-day free trial today at https://StPaulCenter.com/pints . Or become an Annual Member and receive a free copy of the complete Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.
Catholic Herald - Subscribe to Catholic Herald, and enter promo code FRADD for 30 days of free access: https://thecatholicherald.com/subscribe?plan=us-digital-monthly&coupon=FRADD
Catholic Match: Visit https://CatholicMatch.com or download the app today. It’s free to get started.
- - -
Become a Daily Wire Member and watch all of our content ad-free: https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe
📲 Download the free Daily Wire app today on iPhone, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, and more.
- - -
📕 Get my newest book, Jesus Our Refuge, here: https://a.co/d/bDU0xLb
🍺 Want to Support Pints With Aquinas? 🍺
Get episodes a week early and join exclusive live streams with me! Become an annual supporter at 👉 https://mattfradd.locals.com/support
- - -
💻 Follow Me on Social Media:
📌 Facebook: https://facebook.com/mattfradd
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/mattfradd
𝕏 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Pints_W_Aquinas
🎵 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@pintswithaquinas
📚 PWA Merch – https://dwplus.shop/MattFraddMerch
👕 Grab your favorite PWA gear here: https://shop.pintswithaquinas.com
- - -
Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy
More from this podcast
Pints With Aquinas →