MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS AND THE DIGNITY OF THE PERSON IN THE ERA OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: CONTINUITIES WITH BENEDICT XVI, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ETHICAL-SOCIAL CHALLENGES

Abstract

This article analyzes Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, devoted to safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, placing it within the continuity of Catholic Social Teaching and, in particular, in dialogue with Benedict XVI’s Caritas in veritate. The study follows a qualitative, bibliographical and documentary approach, combining hermeneutical reading of magisterial texts, institutional documents on AI ethics and specialized academic literature. It argues that the encyclical’s central contribution lies in reaffirming the ontological dignity of the human person as a criterion prior to efficiency, productivity and computational capacity. The article examines accountability and governance; truth and democracy; work and social justice; data and new forms of coloniality; education; human rights; and the critique of transhumanist and posthumanist narratives. It concludes that Magnifica Humanitas updates Benedict XVI’s reflection on the ambivalence of technology and integral human development, proposing an ethics of innovation centered on the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity and social justice.