In the fourth chronicle on Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas', the Pope argues that it is necessary to safeguard the human dimension in the digital transformation, presenting Truth as a common good allied with democracy. The document warns that disinformation, often amplified by Artificial Intelligence, can only be combated through the "shared search for factual truth," emphasizing that a society is noble when it cultivates the search for truth and clings to fundamental truths.
The text emphasizes the promotion of a "communication ecology" through transparent norms, serious journalism and educational awareness cultivated by school, family and university. Christian communities are equally called to communicate transparently and to faithfully seek the truth of facts. Regarding AI, Leo XIV appeals to education for its correct use, but also to "fasting from AI" and the protection of the young from the promises of a machine that threatens to make human thought useless.
The school is highlighted as central in the search for truth, facing three challenges: socio-political (combating inequalities in access to education), pedagogical (updating to ensure the integral growth of students) and intellectual (promoting an "hygiene of attention" with silence, in-depth study and measured debate). The Pope emphasizes that the school should not keep pace with the speed of the digital world, but offer what the digital cannot provide: shared time for learning and relationships of trust.
In the domain of work, the document reminds that it is necessary to design systems centered on the person and not merely on performance, insisting that access to work must be a priority objective of public policies. Economic freedom is not absolute and must be evaluated in light of the common good and the dignity of each person. The Pope concludes by warning that world wealth has grown, but concentration in the hands of a few has intensified, and that the fight against new forms of slavery, fueled by economic chains and digital infrastructures, constitutes a decisive test for the ethical discernment of the digital transformation.
