ITC: Humanity’s future lies in relationship, not technology

Transhumanism and posthumanism

The first of the text’s four chapters is width:300px' />The International Theological Commission publishes “Quo vadis, humanitas (“Humanity, where are you going?”): The epochal challenge of Christian anthropology in the era of artificial intelligence and posthumanism.”

The first encompasses the desire to concretely improve, through science and technology, the living conditions of peoples, overcoming their style='font-family:Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif'>“Quo vadis, humanitas?” is the title of a new document published Wednesday by the International Theological Commission, following the approval of Pope Leo XIV, which was granted on 9 February.

Between these two poles style='text-align:justify'>The title captures the underlying rationale and ultimate purpose of the document: faced with unprecedented technological advancement, theology seeks to offer “a theological and pastoral proposal” which, in the light of the Gospel, considers human life as an “integral vocation” and involves “co-responsibility with regard both toward others and towards God.”

The ITC’s reflection is centred on Gaudium et spes, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church and the modern world, published just over sixty years ago: Quo vadis, humanitas? rests on the constitution’s call for “open” dialogue between the Church and the modern world and its vision of the “integral” human being, rooted in the unity of body and soul, heart and conscience, intellect and will.

Transhumanism and posthumanism

The first of the text’s four chapters is dedicated to development, characterized by two poles: transhumanism and posthumanism.

The first encompasses the desire to concretely improve, through science and technology, the living conditions of peoples, overcoming their physical and biological limitations. The second lives the “dream” of actually replacing the human, emphasizing the cyborg, the hybrid that blurs the line between man and machine.

Between these two poles lies the Christian faith, which “urges us to seek a synthesis” of human tensions in Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose again.

Digital technology as a living environment

After a quick overview of the relationship between development and technology in the most recent acts of the magisterium—from Pope St. John XXIII to Pope Francis—the document focuses specifically on digital technology, in light of the reflections of Pope Leo XIV.

“Digital technology,” it emphasizes, “is no longer just a tool, but constitutes a true living environment,” as it structures human activities and relationships. This is why the digital age has ushered in “a new horizon of meaning,” while also changing the notion of “universal,” which today refers to “what is shared in global connection” rather than “a common nature.”

Ecological debt and the solitude of the virtual

Digital style='font-size:14px'>Several risks follow: in the environmental sphere, the expansion of the artificial world leads to an economy based on the unlimited exploitation of resources, in the name of maximum profit.

A “tragic consequence” of this is the ecological debt between the global North and South; “wild and abusive” urbanization; and polluting extractive policies. In relationships with others, the digital revolution can lead individuals to feel insignificant and lost in an uncontrollable and destabilizing flow of information, amidst purely virtual contacts, outside of time or place.

Rising power of AI

Therefore, the power of artificial intelligence (AI), both broadly understood and in the more specific sense of Generative AI (GenAI), is increasingly emerging. The former can rapidly process large amounts of data, in a way that isn’t always controllable by humans, companies, or states, making it unreliable.

The latter, much more pervasive, will in the future be capable of replacing various aspects of human intelligence, both computational and operational, leading to profound and radical consequences.

In such a hyper-connected world, the QVH states, economic, political, social, and military dynamics risk becoming “uncontrollable and therefore ungovernable,” with a growing risk of technology as a living environment

After a quick overview of the relationship between development and technology in the most recent acts of the magisterium—from Pope St. John XXIII to Pope Francis—the document focuses specifically on digital technology, in light of the reflections of Pope Leo XIV.

“Digital technology,” it emphasizes, “is no longer just a tool, but constitutes a true living environment,” as it structures human activities and relationships. This is why the digital age has ushered in “a new horizon of meaning,” while also changing the notion of “universal,” which today refers to “what is shared in global connection” rather than “a common nature.”

Ecological debt and the solitude of the virtual

Several risks follow: in the environmental sphere, the expansion of the artificial world leads to an economy based on the unlimited exploitation of resources, in the name of maximum profit.

A “tragic consequence” of this is the ecological debt between the global North and South; “wild and abusive” urbanization; and polluting extractive policies. In relationships with others, the digital revolution can lead individuals to feel insignificant and lost in an uncontrollable and destabilizing flow of information, amidst purely virtual contacts, outside of time or place.

Rising power of AI

Therefore, the power of artificial intelligence (AI), both broadly understood and in the more specific sense of Generative AI (GenAI), is increasingly emerging. The former can rapidly process large “fraternity” and “social friendship.” This context also includes the “people of God, the Church,” whose journey is founded on faith and open to differences for a “greater unified project.”

Poor are not “collateral damage” of technology

This second chapter also focuses on the principle of the common good, with a call to financial institutions to be “attentive to the real economy rather than the logic of profit” and to maintain an ethical approach and solidarity towards the most vulnerable.

This is also because “the mystery of the Cross” draws attention to the perspective of the victims; therefore, without justice or consideration for the weakest, there can be no “human fulfilment” of history.

In this regard, a specific point in the document also urges us to turn our attention to the poorest, who, due to technological power, risk becoming “collateral damage” to be wiped out “without mercy.”

Infinite dignity of every human life and prayer

The integral vocation of the human being is also the call to fulfilment in love: each person’s life is the fruit of “the creative love of the Father,” who loved them before even forming them.

This means that “every human existence has infinite value in itself,” and man cannot be subjected to any measure—political, economic, or social—that diminishes “his infinite dignity.”

The perception of life as a gift also ensures that no one should feel “superfluous” in the world, because we are all called to respond to a plan conceived by God for us, His children, who turn to Him in prayer. As an attitude that “qualifies humanity,” prayer expresses humanity that entrusts itself beyond itself, without either dissolving or projecting itself.

Culture of non-vocation robs young people of hope

Unfortunately today, especially in the West—the document notes—a “culture of non-vocation” is fostered that deprives young people of an openness to the ultimate meaning of existence, as well as to hope. The future, then, is reduced to the choice of career, financial gain, and the satisfaction of material needs. On the contrary, the “culture of vocation” is more necessary than ever to allow the proper maturation of the identity of individuals and peoples.

Identity matures in love

Identity is the theme of the third chapter: “No human being can be happy if he or she does not know who he or she is,” the ITC states; therefore, each person must take on “the task” of becoming himself or herself and of transforming the world according to God’s plan.

Furthermore, as beloved children of the Lord, human beings develop their identity above all in love. But there are other factors—cultural, natural, social, and religious—that make identity particularly complex. For this reason, it must be sought above all in the heart, “the centre of the person,” where unity is created and authentic bonds are built, in a proper relationship with the world.

Corporeality and disability

To shape one’s identity, it is also necessary to “accept the sexual body, seen as a gift and not as a prison that prevents us from being truly ourselves, or as biological material to be modified.”

In this context, disability also takes on significant value: “While congenital disabilities are not directly willed by God,” the document explains, it is necessary to defend the infinite dignity of each person, embracing their “particular condition,” because it too “can be an opportunity for goodness, wisdom, and beauty.”

Relationships among persons and with the cosmos

The text clearly emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, because the more a person experiences them “authentically,” the more “one’s personal identity” matures. Being a gift to others thus becomes the way a person responds to the call of a “social communion” that is realized in the “ability to welcome others, establishing solid bonds,” based on dialogue, listening, and the right to be oneself and to be different.

A further reflection is offered on the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. It is emphasized that it cannot be reduced to a mere “object,” nor can it be “humanized,” as happens especially in the West with domestic animals. Rather, human beings must assume the role of “responsible stewards” of Creation, becoming agents of the evolution of the physical universe, “but always respecting its laws.”

Polar tensions of human identity

The fourth and final chapter of the document analyses the dramatic condition of the process of realizing human identity, which passes through various “tensions or polarities,” between material and spiritual, male and female, individual and community, finite and infinite. These tensions, it is explained, “should not be interpreted in a dualistic logic, but as a ‘unity of the two’” [poles] thus demonstrating “the just and indispensable value of difference.”

This is a reference to “Trinitarian life,” a reflection of the internal relations of the Holy Trinity, by virtue of which the relationship between two is not closed in on itself, nor does one cancel out the other; instead, the relationship between the two “opens to fulfilment in the third.”

Above all, through polar oppositions, “the original gift that precedes and establishes remains intact.” The “perfect harmony” between the Trinitarian Persons recalls universal brotherhood and is expressed most fully in the Eucharist, which “regenerates human relationships and opens them to communion.”

Male and female are a gift from God, not a contingent variable

The document highlights two particular points in this regard: in the tension between male and female, it emphasizes that the identity of man and woman “is not a contingent variable” that can be shaped independently of or in conflict with its “original and permanent” meaning; nor is it “a property to be managed” subjectively. On the contrary, this identity is a gift from God.

Consequently, the current tendency to “deny or ignore this natural difference” becomes “a dangerous way of erasing real bodily identity,” in favour of an “endogamous self-contemplation.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between man and woman finds its appropriate perspective in the vocation to unity of the two “with identical dignity.”

Origins of the ecological crisis

The second point concerns the polarity between the material and the spiritual: when the “harmony” between these two dimensions is lost, all things are no longer “signs of a greater mystery,” but are reduced to “material to be arbitrarily manipulated for profit alone.” And this is “at the root of the current ecological crisis,” which also reverberates in relationships between individuals and between peoples, in an “expansion of human conflict.”

Thus, universal brotherhood, “inscribed in our common origin,” is no longer recognized; indeed, it is “constantly offended.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between the material and the spiritual finds its “full meaning” in the resurrection: thanks to it, the human being is saved to the core, in body and soul.

Example of the Virgin Mary

In conclusion, Quo vadis, humanitas? clearly emphasizes that “the future of humanity is not decided in bioengineering laboratories, but in the ability to navigate the tensions of the present,” without losing our sense of limits and openness to the mystery of the risen Christ.

The latter, much more pervasive, will in the future be capable of replacing various aspects of human intelligence, both computational and operational, leading to profound and radical consequences.

In such a hyper-connected world, the QVH states, economic, political, social, and military dynamics risk becoming “uncontrollable and therefore ungovernable,” with a growing risk of “social control and manipulation.”

Loss of neutrality in the mass media

Communication is also affected in this scenario: while emphasizing the advantages of technological and scientific development in this area, such as “active citizenship,” “direct and participatory information,” and “independent information” —that allows, for example, the reporting of human rights violations—the ITC warns against “an endless market of news and personal data, not always verifiable and often manipulated.” Essentially, the mass media today are not “neutral media,” and therefore their influence on ethics and culture demands anthropology.

The ‘infosphere’ and the crisis of western democracies

In this “infosphere,” individuals are increasingly uncertain of their own identity and, for this reason, seek recognition from others: a recognition that must be gained even by “distorting reality” or asserting one’s rights “against the other.” This gives rise to social conflicts that often become identity conflicts.

This is also the root of “the ongoing crisis in Western democracies,” lacking awareness the “growing difficulty” in recognizing, in a shared way, “what unites us as human beings.”

Furthermore, when opinion is homogenized by “likes,” political debate becomes “tribalized,” fragmented between highly polarized groups that engage in “conflictual and violent” confrontations. Essentially—the ITC emphasizes—there is a lack of that “social dialogue” that builds consensus from the bottom up, based on “bonds of solidarity.”

Human enhancement and the search for balance between technology and humanity

The information revolution is also changing the way we perceive knowledge, whose horizon could be reduced only to what AI can process. The principles of philosophy, theology, or ethics could therefore be considered subjective matters or matters of personal “taste.”

The same could happen with corporeality: while, on the one hand, the progress of biotechnology for the health and well-being of various populations is appreciable, on the other, the document warns against the spread of the “cult of the body,” especially in the West, where the pursuit of the “perfect figure, always fit, young, and beautiful” is paramount.

Human enhancement is equally risky: in itself, it refers to all biomedical, genetic, pharmacological, and cybernetic technologies aimed at improving human capabilities. But if this concept is understood “without limits and caution,” then a reflection on the need for a balance between “the technically possible and the humanly sensible” is urgently needed.

Relationship between digital technology and religion: lights and shadows

The relationship between digital technology and religion is also broadly considered. In this area too, there are both positive aspects—such as the ease of access to knowledge and information—and negative ones. These include the creation on the web of “a gigantic ‘religious marketplace’ offering an à la carte choice according to individual interests” or even a certain Christian communication style used on social networks to “fuel controversy and even destroy the good reputation of others.”

Furthermore, in this “metamorphosis in belief,” technology itself ends up serving as a “spiritual guide and mediator of the sacred,” with in extreme cases includes “virtual blessings and exorcisms and digital spiritualism.”

There is also no shortage of forms of “neo-Gnosticism” which, in the name of a humanity free from all limits, community, and history, see religion merely as an obstacle to research and progress.

Culture of anamnesis and the amnesia of culture

The second chapter of the document focuses on integral vocation: human experience must be considered within the concrete categories of time, space, and relationship.

Today, the ITC explains, the sense of history has been lost, everything is reduced to a “self-contained present,” and “the culture of anamnesis” has given way to “cultural amnesia.” There are no lived traditions, but rather processed data that can be recalled at any time from a computer. Technology makes everything contemporary; but “a present that no longer knows a past has no future,” and no hope.

This can lead to “forms of revisionism and denial,” as well as “false cultures” (of waste, walls, isolation) or “populism.”

Faced with all this, the Gospel presents itself as “countercultural” for two reasons: because it values ​​and promotes all authentically human dimensions, and because, in the “horizontal acceleration” that history is undergoing, the Word offers meaning, namely, Jesus Christ, the meeting point between human time and God’s eternity.

Phenomenon of the ‘urban age’

The reflection on space is equally broad, especially in the face of the phenomenon of the “urban “social control and manipulation.”

Loss of neutrality in the mass media

Communication is also affected in this scenario: while emphasizing the advantages of technological and scientific development in this area, such as “active citizenship,” “direct and participatory information,” and “independent information” —that allows, for example, the reporting of human rights violations—the ITC warns against “an endless market of news and personal data, not always verifiable and often manipulated.” Essentially, the mass media today are not “neutral media,” and therefore their influence on ethics and culture demands anthropology.

The ‘infosphere’ and the crisis of western democracies

In this “infosphere,” individuals are increasingly uncertain of their own identity and, for this reason, seek recognition from others: a recognition that must be age,” or the formation of metropolitan regions that unite centres and peripheries in immense spaces, not without challenges, such as the lack of essential services.

Furthermore, global culture and ease of mobility make people “citizens of the world,” but also “nomads,” wandering in anonymous and uniform non-places like airports and shopping malls. “Thus, the figure of the pilgrim is lost,” the document emphasizes: that is, those who, without losing their connection with their homeland, set out to answer God’s call.

Difference between borders and thresholds

Global space does not make us more hospitable and open to others. On the contrary, it leads to “strong identity reactions,” fosters “feelings of invasion” that see others as a threat, and creates boundaries where Christians instead see “thresholds,” or “zones that connect” us with others.

Christ, in fact, “opens up the space of peoples and of individuals,” making it a welcoming place, without walls or closures, in a salvific present, on the path toward a transcendent future.

Relationships as a barrier to homogenizing globalization

Hence, relationships or intersubjectivity, understood as human belonging to a family, a people, and a tradition. These belongings, the document emphasizes, shape personal identity and constitute “almost a barrier to the spread of homogenizing globalization.”

The family unit, in fact, especially in “the union of a man and a woman in the fruitfulness of children,” expresses the “fullness and promise” of the gift of life.

Likewise, a people finds fulfilment “in the sharing” of a culture and a land, thus opposing a “cosmopolitan, anonymous, and globalized” vision that erases differences and primary identities.

By contrast, unity in diversity is the principle invoked by the CTI in the name of “fraternity” and “social friendship.” This context also includes the “people of God, the Church,” whose journey is founded on faith and open to differences for a “greater unified project.”

Poor are not “collateral damage” of technology

This second chapter also focuses on the principle of the common good, with a call to financial institutions to be “attentive to the real economy rather than the logic of profit” and to maintain an ethical approach and solidarity towards the most vulnerable.

This is also because “the mystery of the Cross” draws attention to the perspective of the victims; therefore, without justice or consideration for the weakest, there can be no “human fulfilment” of history.

In this regard, a specific point in the document also urges us to turn our attention to the poorest, who, due to technological power, risk becoming “collateral damage” to be wiped out “without mercy.”

Infinite dignity of every human life and prayer

The integral vocation of the human being is also the call to fulfilment in love: each person’s life is the fruit of “the creative love of the Father,” who loved them before even forming them.

This means that “every human existence has infinite value in itself,” and man cannot be subjected to any measure—political, economic, or social—that diminishes “his infinite dignity.”

The perception of life as a gift also ensures that no one should feel “superfluous” in the world, because we are all called to respond to a plan conceived by God for us, His children, who turn to Him in prayer. As an attitude that “qualifies humanity,” prayer expresses humanity that entrusts itself beyond itself, without either dissolving or projecting itself.

Culture of non-vocation robs young people of hope

Unfortunately today, especially in the West—the document notes—a “culture of non-vocation” is fostered that deprives young people of an openness to the ultimate meaning of existence, as well as to hope. The future, then, is reduced to the choice of career, financial gain, and the satisfaction of material needs. On the contrary, the “culture of vocation” is more necessary than ever to allow the proper maturation of the identity of individuals and peoples.

Identity matures in love

Identity is the theme of the third chapter: “No human being can be happy if he or she does not know who he or she is,” the ITC states; therefore, each person must take on “the task” of becoming himself or herself and of transforming the world according to God’s plan.

Furthermore, as beloved children of the Lord, human beings develop their identity above all in love. But there are other factors—cultural, natural, social, and religious—that make identity particularly complex. For this reason, it must be sought above all in the heart, “the centre of the person,” where unity is created and authentic bonds are built, in a proper relationship with the world.

Corporeality and disability

To shape one’s identity, it is also style='text-align:justify'>A wonderful example of this is the Virgin Mary: she who freely accepted God’s gift becomes “the paradigm” of the fully realized human being.

True humanization, then, will be allowing ourselves to be “divinized” by a Love that “precedes us and makes us protagonists of a new humanity.”

The full text of Quo vadis, humanitas? is available here.

Isabella Piro
Source: vaticannews.va/en

necessary to “accept the sexual body, seen as a gift and not as a prison that prevents us from being truly ourselves, or as biological material to be modified.”

In this context, disability also takes on significant value: “While congenital disabilities are not directly willed by God,” the document explains, it is necessary to defend the infinite dignity of each person, embracing their “particular condition,” because it too “can be an opportunity for goodness, wisdom, and beauty.”

Relationships among persons and with the cosmos

The text clearly emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, because the more a person experiences them “authentically,” the more “one’s personal identity” matures. Being a gift to others thus becomes the way a person responds vadis, humanitas?” is the title of a new document published Wednesday by the International Theological Commission, following the approval of Pope Leo XIV, which was granted on 9 February.

The title captures the underlying rationale and ultimate purpose of the document: faced with unprecedented technological advancement, theology seeks to offer “a theological and pastoral proposal” which, in the light of the Gospel, considers human life as an “integral vocation” and involves “co-responsibility with regard both toward others and towards God.”

The ITC’s reflection is centred on Gaudium et spes, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church and the modern world, published just over sixty years ago: Quo vadis, humanitas? rests on the constitution’s call for “open” dialogue between the Church and the modern world and its vision of the “integral” human being, rooted in the unity of body and soul, heart and conscience, intellect and will.

Transhumanism and posthumanism

The first of the text’s four chapters is dedicated to development, characterized by two poles: transhumanism and posthumanism.

The first encompasses the desire to concretely improve, through science and technology, the living conditions of peoples, overcoming their physical and biological limitations. The second lives the “dream” of actually replacing the human, emphasizing the cyborg, the hybrid that blurs the line between man and machine.

Between these two poles lies the Christian faith, which “urges us to seek a synthesis” of human tensions in Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose again.

Digital technology as a living environment

After a quick overview of the relationship between development and technology in the most recent acts of the magisterium—from Pope St. John XXIII to Pope Francis—the document focuses specifically on digital technology, in light of the reflections of Pope Leo XIV.

“Digital technology,” it emphasizes, “is no longer just a tool, but constitutes a true living environment,” as it structures human activities and relationships. This is why the digital age has ushered in “a new horizon of meaning,” while also changing the notion of “universal,” which today refers to “what is shared in global connection” rather than “a common nature.”

Ecological debt and the solitude of the virtual

Several risks follow: in the environmental sphere, the expansion of the artificial world leads to an economy based on the unlimited exploitation of resources, in the name of maximum profit.

A “tragic consequence” of this is the ecological debt between the global North and South; “wild and abusive” urbanization; and polluting extractive policies. In relationships with others, the digital revolution can lead individuals to feel insignificant and lost in an uncontrollable and destabilizing flow of information, amidst purely virtual contacts, outside of time or place.

Rising power of AI

Therefore, the power of artificial intelligence (AI), both broadly understood and in the more specific sense of Generative AI (GenAI), is increasingly emerging. The former can rapidly process large amounts of data, in a way that isn’t always controllable by humans, companies, or states, making it unreliable.

The latter, much more pervasive, will in the future be capable of replacing various aspects of human intelligence, both computational and operational, leading to profound and radical consequences.

In such a hyper-connected world, the QVH states, economic, political, social, and military dynamics risk becoming “uncontrollable and therefore ungovernable,” with a growing risk of “social control and to the call of a “social communion” that is realized in the “ability to welcome others, establishing solid bonds,” based on dialogue, listening, and the right to be oneself and to be different.

A further reflection is offered on the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. It is emphasized that it cannot be reduced to a mere “object,” nor can it be “humanized,” as happens especially in the West with domestic animals. Rather, human beings must assume the role of “responsible stewards” of Creation, becoming agents of the evolution of the physical universe, “but always respecting its laws.”

Polar tensions of human identity

The fourth and final chapter of the document analyses the dramatic condition of the process of realizing human identity, which passes through various “tensions or polarities,” between material and spiritual, male and female, individual and community, finite and infinite. These tensions, it is explained, “should not be interpreted in a dualistic logic, but as a ‘unity of the two’” [poles] thus demonstrating “the just and indispensable value of difference.”

This is a reference to “Trinitarian life,” a reflection of the internal relations of the Holy Trinity, by virtue of which the relationship between two is not closed in on itself, nor does one cancel out the other; instead, the relationship between the two “opens to fulfilment in the third.”

Above all, through polar oppositions, “the original gift that precedes and establishes remains intact.” The “perfect harmony” between the Trinitarian Persons recalls universal brotherhood and is expressed most fully in the Eucharist, which “regenerates human relationships and opens them to communion.”

Male and female are a gift from God, not a contingent variable

The document manipulation.”

Loss of neutrality in the mass media

Communication is also affected in this scenario: while emphasizing the advantages of technological and scientific development in this area, such as “active citizenship,” “direct and participatory information,” and “independent information” —that allows, for example, the reporting of human rights violations—the ITC warns against “an endless market of news and personal data, not always verifiable and often manipulated.” Essentially, the mass media today are not “neutral media,” and therefore their influence on ethics and culture demands anthropology.

The ‘infosphere’ and the crisis of western democracies

In this “infosphere,” individuals are increasingly uncertain of their own identity and, for this reason, seek recognition from others: a recognition that must be gained even by “distorting reality” or asserting one’s rights “against the other.” This gives rise to social conflicts that often become identity conflicts.

This is also the root of “the ongoing crisis in Western democracies,” lacking awareness the “growing difficulty” in recognizing, in a shared way, “what unites us as human beings.”

Furthermore, when opinion is homogenized by “likes,” political debate becomes “tribalized,” fragmented between highly polarized groups that engage in “conflictual and violent” confrontations. Essentially—the ITC emphasizes—there is a lack of that “social dialogue” that builds consensus from the bottom up, based on “bonds of solidarity.”

Human enhancement and the search for balance between technology and humanity

The information revolution is also changing the way we perceive knowledge, whose horizon could be reduced only to what AI can process. The principles of philosophy, theology, or ethics could therefore be considered subjective matters or matters of personal “taste.”

The same could happen with corporeality: while, on the one hand, the progress of biotechnology for the health and well-being of various populations is appreciable, on the other, the document warns against the spread of the “cult of the body,” especially in the West, where the pursuit of the “perfect figure, always fit, young, and beautiful” is paramount.

Human enhancement is equally risky: in itself, it refers to all biomedical, genetic, pharmacological, and cybernetic technologies aimed at improving human capabilities. But if this concept is understood “without limits and caution,” then a reflection on the need for a balance between “the technically possible and the humanly sensible” is urgently needed.

Relationship between digital technology and religion: lights and shadows

The relationship between digital technology and religion is also broadly considered. In this area too, there are both positive aspects—such as the ease of access to knowledge and information—and negative ones. These include the creation on the web of “a gigantic ‘religious marketplace’ offering an à la carte choice according to individual interests” or even a certain Christian communication style used on social networks to “fuel controversy and even destroy the good reputation of others.”

Furthermore, in this “metamorphosis in belief,” technology itself ends up serving as a “spiritual guide and mediator of the sacred,” with in extreme cases includes “virtual blessings and exorcisms and digital spiritualism.”

There is also no shortage of forms of “neo-Gnosticism” which, in the name of a humanity free from all limits, community, and history, see religion merely as an obstacle to research and progress.

Culture of anamnesis and the amnesia of culture

The second chapter of the document focuses on integral vocation: human experience must be considered within the concrete categories of time, space, and relationship.

Today, the ITC explains, the sense of history has been lost, everything is reduced to a “self-contained present,” and “the culture of anamnesis” has given way to “cultural amnesia.” There are no lived traditions, but rather processed data that can be recalled at any time from a computer. Technology makes everything contemporary; but “a present that no longer knows a past has no future,” and no hope.

This can lead to “forms of revisionism and denial,” as well as “false cultures” (of waste, walls, isolation) or “populism.”

Faced with all this, the Gospel presents itself as “countercultural” for two reasons: because it values ​​and promotes all authentically human dimensions, and because, in the “horizontal acceleration” that history is undergoing, the Word offers meaning, namely, Jesus Christ, the meeting point between human time and God’s eternity.

Phenomenon of the ‘urban age’

The reflection on space is equally broad, especially in the face of the phenomenon of the “urban age,” or the formation of metropolitan regions that unite centres and peripheries in immense spaces, not without challenges, such as the lack of essential services.

Furthermore, global culture and ease of mobility make people “citizens of the world,” but also “nomads,” wandering in anonymous and uniform non-places like airports and shopping malls. “Thus, the figure of the pilgrim is lost,” the document emphasizes: that is, those who, without losing their connection with their homeland, set out to answer God’s call.

Difference between borders and thresholds

Global space does not make us more hospitable and open to others. On the contrary, it leads to “strong identity reactions,” fosters “feelings of invasion” that see others as a threat, and creates boundaries where Christians instead see “thresholds,” or “zones that connect” us with others.

Christ, in fact, “opens up the space of peoples and of individuals,” making it a welcoming place, without walls or closures, in a salvific present, on the path toward a transcendent future.

Relationships as a barrier to homogenizing globalization

Hence, relationships or intersubjectivity, understood as human belonging to a family, a people, and a tradition. These belongings, the document emphasizes, shape personal identity and constitute “almost a barrier to the spread of homogenizing globalization.”

The family unit, in fact, especially in “the union of a man and a woman in the fruitfulness of highlights two particular points in this regard: in the tension between male and female, it emphasizes that the identity of man and woman “is not a contingent variable” that can be shaped independently of or in conflict with its “original and permanent” meaning; nor is it “a property to be managed” subjectively. On the contrary, this identity is a gift from God.

Consequently, the current tendency to “deny or ignore this natural difference” becomes “a dangerous way of erasing real bodily identity,” in favour of an “endogamous self-contemplation.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between man and woman finds its appropriate perspective in the vocation to unity of the two “with identical dignity.”

Origins of the ecological crisis

The second point concerns the polarity between the material and the spiritual: when the “harmony” between these two dimensions is lost, all things are no longer “signs of a greater mystery,” but are reduced to “material to be arbitrarily manipulated for profit alone.” And this is “at the root of the current ecological crisis,” which also reverberates in relationships between individuals and between peoples, in an “expansion of human conflict.”

Thus, universal brotherhood, “inscribed in our common origin,” is no longer recognized; indeed, it is “constantly offended.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between the material and the spiritual finds its “full meaning” in the resurrection: thanks to it, the human being is saved to the core, in body and soul.

Example of the Virgin Mary

In conclusion, Quo vadis, humanitas? clearly emphasizes that “the future of humanity is not decided in bioengineering laboratories, but in the ability to navigate the tensions of the present,” without losing our sense of limits and openness to the mystery of the risen Christ.

A wonderful example of this is the Virgin Mary: she who freely accepted God’s gift becomes “the paradigm” of the fully realized human being.

True humanization, then, will be allowing ourselves to be “divinized” by a Love that “precedes us and makes us protagonists of a new humanity.”

The full text of Quo vadis, humanitas? is available here.

Isabella Piro
Source: vaticannews.va/en

gained even by “distorting reality” or asserting one’s rights “against the other.” This gives rise to social conflicts that often become identity conflicts.

This is also the root of “the ongoing crisis in Western democracies,” lacking awareness the “growing difficulty” in recognizing, in a shared way, “what unites us as human beings.”

Furthermore, when opinion is homogenized by “likes,” political debate becomes “tribalized,” fragmented between highly polarized groups that engage in “conflictual and violent” confrontations. Essentially—the ITC emphasizes—there is a lack of that “social dialogue” that builds consensus from the bottom up, based on “bonds of solidarity.”

Human enhancement and the search for balance between technology and humanity

The information revolution is also changing the way we perceive knowledge, whose horizon could be reduced only to what AI can process. The principles of philosophy, theology, or ethics could therefore be considered subjective matters or matters of personal “taste.”

The same could happen with corporeality: while, on the one hand, the progress of biotechnology for the health and well-being of various populations is appreciable, on the other, the document warns against the spread of the “cult of the body,” especially in the West, where the pursuit of the “perfect figure, always fit, young, and beautiful” is paramount.

Human enhancement is equally risky: in itself, it refers to all biomedical, genetic, pharmacological, and cybernetic technologies aimed at improving human capabilities. But if this concept is understood “without limits and caution,” then a reflection on the need for a balance between “the technically possible and the humanly sensible” is urgently needed.

Relationship between digital technology and religion: lights and shadows

The relationship between digital technology and religion is also broadly considered. In this area too, there are both positive aspects—such as the ease of access to knowledge and information—and negative ones. These include the creation on the web of “a gigantic ‘religious marketplace’ offering an à la carte choice according to individual interests” or even a certain Christian communication style used on social networks to “fuel controversy and even destroy the good reputation of others.”

Furthermore, in this “metamorphosis in belief,” technology itself ends up serving as a “spiritual guide and mediator of the sacred,” with in extreme cases includes “virtual blessings and exorcisms and digital spiritualism.”

There is also no shortage of forms of “neo-Gnosticism” which, in the name of a humanity free from all limits, community, and history, see religion merely as an obstacle to research and progress.

Culture of anamnesis and the amnesia of culture

The second chapter of the document focuses on integral vocation: human experience must be considered within the concrete categories of time, space, and relationship.

Today, the ITC explains, the sense of history has been lost, everything is reduced to a “self-contained present,” and “the culture of anamnesis” has given way to “cultural amnesia.” There are no lived traditions, but rather processed data that can be recalled at any time from a computer. Technology makes everything contemporary; but “a present that no longer knows a past has no future,” and no hope.

This can lead to “forms of revisionism and denial,” as well as “false cultures” (of waste, walls, isolation) or “populism.”

Faced with all this, the Gospel presents itself as “countercultural” for two reasons: because it values ​​and promotes all authentically human dimensions, and because, in the “horizontal acceleration” that history is undergoing, the Word offers meaning, namely, Jesus Christ, the meeting point between human time and God’s eternity.

Phenomenon of the ‘urban age’

The reflection on space is equally broad, especially in the face of the phenomenon of the “urban age,” or the formation of metropolitan regions that unite centres and peripheries in immense spaces, not without challenges, such as the lack of essential services.

Furthermore, global culture and ease of mobility make people “citizens of the world,” but also “nomads,” wandering in anonymous and uniform non-places like airports and shopping malls. “Thus, the figure of the pilgrim is lost,” the document emphasizes: that is, those who, without losing their connection with their homeland, set out to answer God’s call.

Difference between borders and thresholds

Global space does not make us more hospitable and open to others. On the contrary, it leads to “strong identity reactions,” fosters “feelings of invasion” that see others as a threat, and creates boundaries where Christians instead see “thresholds,” or “zones that connect” us with others.

Christ, in fact, “opens up the space of peoples and of individuals,” making it a welcoming place, without walls or closures, in a salvific present, on the path toward a transcendent future.

Relationships as a barrier to homogenizing globalization

Hence, relationships or intersubjectivity, understood as human belonging to a family, a people, and a tradition. These belongings, the document emphasizes, shape personal identity and constitute “almost a barrier to the spread of homogenizing globalization.”

The family unit, in fact, especially in “the union of a man and a woman in the fruitfulness of children,” expresses the “fullness and promise” of the gift of life.

Likewise, a people finds fulfilment “in the sharing” of a culture and a land, thus opposing a “cosmopolitan, anonymous, and globalized” vision that erases differences and primary identities.

By contrast, unity in diversity is the principle invoked by the CTI in the name of “fraternity” and “social friendship.” This context also includes the “people of God, the Church,” whose journey is founded on faith and open to differences for a “greater unified project.”

Poor are not “collateral damage” of technology

This second chapter also focuses on the principle of the common good, with a call to financial institutions to be “attentive to the real economy rather than the logic of profit” and to maintain an ethical approach and solidarity towards the most vulnerable.

This is also because “the mystery of the Cross” draws attention to the perspective of the victims; therefore, without justice or consideration for the weakest, there can be no “human fulfilment” of history.

In this regard, a specific point in the document also urges us to turn our attention to the poorest, who, due to technological power, risk becoming “collateral damage” to be wiped out “without mercy.”

Infinite dignity of every human life and prayer

The integral vocation of the human being is also the call to fulfilment in love: each person’s life is the fruit of “the creative love of the Father,” who loved them before even forming them.

This means that “every human existence has infinite value in itself,” and man cannot be subjected to any measure—political, economic, or social—that diminishes “his infinite dignity.”

The perception of life as a gift also ensures that no one should feel “superfluous” in the world, because we are all called to respond to a plan conceived by God for us, His children, who turn to Him in prayer. As an attitude that “qualifies humanity,” prayer expresses humanity that entrusts itself beyond itself, without either dissolving or projecting itself.

Culture of non-vocation robs young people of hope

Unfortunately today, especially in the West—the document notes—a “culture of non-vocation” is fostered that deprives young people of an openness to the ultimate meaning of existence, as well as to hope. The future, then, is reduced to the choice of career, financial gain, and the satisfaction of material needs. On the contrary, the “culture of vocation” is more necessary than ever to allow the proper maturation of the identity of individuals and peoples.

Identity matures in love

Identity is the theme of the third chapter: “No human being can be happy if he or she does not know who he or she is,” the ITC states; therefore, each person must take on “the task” of becoming himself or herself and of transforming the world according to God’s plan.

Furthermore, as beloved children of the Lord, human beings develop their identity above all in love. But there are other factors—cultural, natural, social, and religious—that make identity particularly complex. For this reason, it must be sought above all in the heart, “the centre of the person,” where unity is created and authentic bonds are built, in a proper relationship with the world.

Corporeality and disability

To shape one’s identity, it is also necessary to “accept the sexual body, seen as a gift and not as a prison that prevents us from being truly ourselves, or as biological material to be modified.”

In this context, disability also takes on significant value: “While congenital disabilities are not directly willed by God,” the document explains, it is necessary to defend the infinite dignity of each person, embracing their “particular condition,” because it too “can be an opportunity for goodness, wisdom, and beauty.”

Relationships among persons and with the cosmos

The text clearly emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, because the more a person experiences them “authentically,” the more “one’s personal identity” matures. Being a gift to others thus becomes the way a person responds to the call of a “social communion” that is realized in the “ability to welcome others, establishing solid bonds,” based on dialogue, listening, and the right to be oneself and to be different.

A further reflection is offered on the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. It is emphasized that it cannot be reduced to a mere “object,” nor can it be “humanized,” as happens especially in the West with domestic animals. Rather, human beings must assume the role of “responsible stewards” of Creation, becoming agents of the evolution of the physical universe, “but always respecting its laws.”

Polar tensions of human identity

The fourth and final chapter of the document analyses the dramatic condition of the process of realizing human identity, which passes through various “tensions or polarities,” between material and spiritual, male and female, individual and community, finite and infinite. These tensions, it is explained, “should not be interpreted in a dualistic logic, but as a ‘unity of the two’” [poles] thus demonstrating “the just and indispensable value of difference.”

This is a reference to “Trinitarian life,” a reflection of the internal relations of the Holy Trinity, by virtue of which the relationship between two is not closed in on itself, nor does one cancel out the other; instead, the relationship between the two “opens to fulfilment in the third.”

Above all, through polar oppositions, “the original gift that precedes and establishes remains intact.” The “perfect harmony” between the Trinitarian Persons recalls universal brotherhood and is expressed most fully in the Eucharist, which “regenerates human relationships and opens them to communion.”

Male and female are a gift from God, not a contingent variable

The document highlights two particular points in this regard: in the tension between male and female, it emphasizes that the identity of man and woman “is not a contingent variable” that can be shaped independently of or in conflict with its “original and permanent” meaning; nor is it “a property to be managed” subjectively. On the contrary, this identity is a gift from God.

Consequently, the current tendency to “deny or ignore this natural difference” becomes “a dangerous way of erasing real bodily identity,” in favour of an “endogamous self-contemplation.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between man and woman finds its appropriate perspective in the vocation to unity of the two “with identical dignity.”

Origins of the ecological crisis

The second point concerns the polarity between the material and the spiritual: when the “harmony” between these two dimensions is lost, all things are no longer “signs of a greater mystery,” but are reduced to “material to be arbitrarily manipulated for profit alone.” And this is “at the root of the current ecological crisis,” which also reverberates in relationships between individuals and between peoples, in an “expansion of human conflict.”

Thus, universal brotherhood, “inscribed in our common origin,” is no longer recognized; indeed, it is “constantly offended.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between the material and the spiritual finds its “full meaning” in the resurrection: thanks to it, the human being is saved to the core, in body and soul.

Example of the Virgin Mary

In conclusion, Quo vadis, humanitas? clearly emphasizes that “the future of humanity is not decided in bioengineering laboratories, but in the ability to navigate the tensions of the present,” without losing our sense of limits and openness to the mystery of the risen Christ.

A wonderful example of this is the Virgin Mary: she who freely accepted God’s gift becomes “the paradigm” of the fully realized human being.

True humanization, then, will be allowing ourselves to be “divinized” by a Love that “precedes us and makes us protagonists of a new humanity.”

The full text of Quo vadis, humanitas? is available here.

Isabella Piro
Source: vaticannews.va/en

children,” expresses the “fullness and promise” of the gift of life.

Likewise, a people finds fulfilment “in the sharing” of a culture and a land, thus opposing a “cosmopolitan, anonymous, and globalized” vision that erases differences and primary identities.

By contrast, unity in diversity is the principle invoked by the CTI in the name of “fraternity” and “social friendship.” This context also includes the “people of God, the Church,” whose journey is founded on faith and open to differences for a “greater unified project.”

Poor are not “collateral damage” of technology

This second chapter also focuses on the principle of the common good, with a call to financial institutions to be “attentive to the real economy rather than the logic of profit” and to maintain an ethical approach and solidarity towards the most vulnerable.

This is also because “the mystery of the Cross” draws attention to the perspective of the victims; therefore, without justice or consideration for the weakest, there can be no “human fulfilment” of history.

In this regard, a specific point in the document also urges us to turn our attention to the poorest, who, due to technological power, risk becoming “collateral damage” to be wiped out “without mercy.”

Infinite dignity of every human life and prayer

The integral vocation of the human being is also the call to fulfilment in love: each person’s life is the fruit of “the creative love of the Father,” who loved them before even forming them.

This means that “every human existence has infinite value in itself,” and man cannot be subjected to any measure—political, economic, or social—that diminishes “his infinite dignity.”

The perception of life as a gift also ensures that no one should feel “superfluous” in the world, because we are all called to respond to a plan conceived by God for us, His children, who turn to Him in prayer. As an attitude that “qualifies humanity,” prayer expresses humanity that entrusts itself beyond itself, without either dissolving or projecting itself.

Culture of non-vocation robs young people of hope

Unfortunately today, especially in the West—the document notes—a “culture of non-vocation” is fostered that deprives young people of an openness to the ultimate meaning of existence, as well as to hope. The future, then, is reduced to the choice of career, financial gain, and the satisfaction of material needs. On the contrary, the “culture of vocation” is more necessary than ever to allow the proper maturation of the identity of individuals and peoples.

Identity matures in love

Identity is the theme of the third chapter: “No human being can be happy if he or she does not know who he or she is,” the ITC states; therefore, each person must take on “the task” of becoming himself or herself and of transforming the world according to God’s plan.

Furthermore, as beloved children of the Lord, human beings develop their identity above all in love. But there are other factors—cultural, natural, social, and religious—that make identity particularly complex. For this reason, it must be sought above all in the heart, “the centre of the person,” where unity is created and authentic bonds are built, in a proper relationship with the world.

Corporeality and disability

To shape one’s identity, it is also necessary to “accept the sexual body, seen as a gift and not as a prison that prevents us from being truly ourselves, or as biological material to be modified.”

In this context, disability also takes on significant value: “While congenital disabilities are not directly willed by God,” the document explains, it is necessary to defend the infinite dignity of each person, embracing their “particular condition,” because it too “can be an opportunity for goodness, wisdom, and beauty.”

Relationships among persons and with the cosmos

The text clearly emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, because the more a person experiences them “authentically,” the more “one’s personal identity” matures. Being a gift to others thus becomes the way a person responds to the call of a “social communion” that is realized in the “ability to welcome others, establishing solid bonds,” based on dialogue, listening, and the right to be oneself and to be different.

A further reflection is offered on the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. It is emphasized that it cannot be reduced to a mere “object,” nor can it be “humanized,” as happens especially in the West with domestic animals. Rather, human beings must assume the role of “responsible stewards” of Creation, becoming agents of the evolution of the physical universe, “but always respecting its laws.”

Polar tensions of human identity

The fourth and final chapter of the document analyses the dramatic condition of the process of realizing human identity, which passes through various “tensions or polarities,” between material and spiritual, male and female, individual and community, finite and infinite. These tensions, it is explained, “should not be interpreted in a dualistic logic, but as a ‘unity of the two’” [poles] thus demonstrating “the just and indispensable value of difference.”

This is a reference to “Trinitarian life,” a reflection of the internal relations of the Holy Trinity, by virtue of which the relationship between two is not closed in on itself, nor does one cancel out the other; instead, the relationship between the two “opens to fulfilment in the third.”

Above all, through polar oppositions, “the original gift that precedes and establishes remains intact.” The “perfect harmony” between the Trinitarian Persons recalls universal brotherhood and is expressed most fully in the Eucharist, which “regenerates human relationships and opens them to communion.”

Male and female are a gift from God, not a contingent variable

The document highlights two particular points in this regard: in the tension between male and female, it emphasizes that the identity of man and woman “is not a contingent variable” that can be shaped independently of or in conflict with its “original and permanent” meaning; nor is it “a property to be managed” subjectively. On the contrary, this identity is a gift from God.

Consequently, the current tendency to “deny or ignore this natural difference” becomes “a dangerous way of erasing real bodily identity,” in favour of an “endogamous self-contemplation.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between man and woman finds its appropriate perspective in the vocation to unity of the two “with identical dignity.”

Origins of the ecological crisis

The second point concerns the polarity between the material and the spiritual: when the “harmony” between these two dimensions is lost, all things are no longer “signs of a greater mystery,” but are reduced to “material to be arbitrarily manipulated for profit alone.” And this is “at the root of the current ecological crisis,” which also reverberates in relationships between individuals and between peoples, in an “expansion of human conflict.”

Thus, universal brotherhood, “inscribed in our common origin,” is no longer recognized; indeed, it is “constantly offended.”

From a theological perspective, however, the tension between the material and the spiritual finds its “full meaning” in the resurrection: thanks to it, the human being is saved to the core, in body and soul.

Example of the Virgin Mary

In conclusion, Quo vadis, humanitas? clearly emphasizes that “the future of humanity is not decided in bioengineering laboratories, but in the ability to navigate the tensions of the present,” without losing our sense of limits and openness to the mystery of the risen Christ.

A wonderful example of this is the Virgin Mary: she who freely accepted God’s gift becomes “the paradigm” of the fully realized human being.

True humanization, then, will be allowing ourselves to be “divinized” by a Love that “precedes us and makes us protagonists of a new humanity.”

The full text of Quo vadis, humanitas? is available here.

Isabella Piro
Source: vaticannews.va/en