In the great contemporary debate on the presence of “human” beings in the cosmos, capable of self-awareness, of thought, of free choices of action, of feelings, of incessant progress throughout history, today a wisdom meditation is inserted which addresses the new challenges of human civilization, marked by social transformations and new forms of economic and technological power. It’s the encyclical Magnificent Humanitas dedicated to the “protection of the human person in the time of artificial intelligence”.
The themes addressed are many, they are profound, they project forward the impetus that the magisterium of the popes has given to the “social question” for 135 yearswith those great words on the common good, on the universal destination of goods, on solidarity, on social justice. In the great river of reflection on the dignity of the human person there is a topic that resembles a precious pearl kept in a treasure chest: the protection of life. Just one paragraph, with the number 55, out of the 245 in the document; but its centrality directs the vision, the perspective. From the beginning it is the secret root of the great prelude dedicated to the dignity of the person, to the moral priority of the option for the poor (the sick, the migrants, the little ones), to the social and political task of protection, against the backdrop of the new technological challenge of AI. Finally, remembering that human life is a gift and image of God.
For this reason every human being has an infinite ontological dignity. For this reason “human rights” do not depend on requirements of performance, efficiency or strength: they arise from being. And of course the first human right is the right to life, and without it no other right could be exercised. A right “inherent” to the human person, which envelops life from conception to its natural conclusion, and therefore denotes the inhumanity of what destroys it (induced abortion, the killing of innocents, euthanasia).
However, the protection of life is even greater than saving one from an unjust death. It extends to the conditions that allow one to live with dignity. So it’s up The themes of the work (not as a commodity such as “ordinary path towards maturity, development and personal fulfillment), access to fundamental goods, the promotion of women (“«women who suffer situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence are doubly poor), the protection of vulnerable people. Proclaiming rights without promoting their exercise is betraying the promise.
In the great horizon of the “common good”, the promotion of life is essential and indispensable. It remains the heart of the “social question”, because it builds relationships, listening, acceptance and finally communion between people, and this leads the human community to a fraternal civilization. That “civilization of love” that no artificial intelligence can inventand which instead remains the dream and the hope and the industrious commitment of human beings. The protection of life is the common thread that unites anthropology, human rights, social justice and the common good. It enables us to face the challenges of the digital revolution without losing what makes our civilization authentically human.
