Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, reflected on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and artificial intelligence at a study day held on 30 September 2026 at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid, as reported by Vatican News in October 2026.
“Caring for humanity: this is the fundamental issue,” the Cardinal said. He noted that advances in AI “have given new impetus to forms of posthumanism that even propose replacing humanity,” and that the encyclical answers such proposals with historical examples of humanity safeguarding dignity and protecting the weak.
Recognising both the value of AI’s contributions and humanity’s wounds, he called for “a vision of complementarity that in no way seeks to deny the value of what is human, which precedes any technology,” in which everything serves “dignity, the common good, integral development and fraternity.”
He also highlighted the question of power, observing that groups with greater access to new technologies are acquiring “formidable power,” and asking who will be able to set limits on it. He closed by quoting the International Theological Commission’s document Quo vadis humanitas on turning our gaze to the poorest.
These themes echo the Evangelii Network Japan paper on Catholic AI and human dignity.
