Even for nonbelievers, the pope has become a reassuring – and all too rare – voice of moral clarity. Pope Leo XIV is proving to be a much-needed force for good in a world increasingly devoid of ethical leadership.
The Shift from Silicon Valley to the Vatican
Remember the early 2000s, when Silicon Valley buzzed with idealism and tech bros promised to save the world? Google’s unofficial motto was “Don’t be evil,” and Mark Zuckerberg declared Facebook’s mission to make the world more open and connected. That performative bullshit ended with the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018. Now, Donald Trump has normalized cruelty and greed, and tech titans like Elon Musk and Zuckerberg embrace right-wing agendas. Musk has become a rightwing agitator, while Zuckerberg urges companies to unleash “masculine energy” and regrets apologizing too much.
The Vatican as a Beacon
In this dark shift, the Vatican has replaced Silicon Valley as a source of disruptive thinking. Despite its history of sexual abuse and opulence, the Catholic Church under Pope Francis and now Pope Leo XIV has become a moral beacon. Francis condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza as terrorism and requested his popemobile be turned into a health clinic for Gaza’s children – a request Israel has blocked.
Pope Leo XIV has continued this advocacy. He has spoken out against the war on Iran and MAGA’s religious justifications for it. He reminded the world that Gaza still lacks humanitarian aid, a fact most leaders ignore. Trump accused him of being “WEAK on crime,” and Fox News’s Sean Hannity questioned if he had read the Bible.
The AI Encyclical
On 25 May, Leo released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanity: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. It warns against unregulated AI, stating that “the growing dominance of a technocratic paradigm” risks reducing humans to mere cogs. Key sections emphasize that “the search for truth is an essential element of democracy” and that indifference to truth leads to totalitarianism, quoting Hannah Arendt: “people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction no longer exist.”
Moral Rot and Pragmatism
Social media has accelerated moral decay, turning us into manipulable data points. AI now supercharges this erosion of reality. The Trump administration loves AI because it enriches the powerful and makes us compliant. Leo also warns against a dangerous “pragmatism” that allows cruelty to thrive. Leaders like Stephen Miller and Benjamin Netanyahu revel in cruelty, while many others go along out of intimidation, as former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin noted.
We are ruled by cretins and cowards. Thank God for the pope – a mere mortal, not perfect, but a much-needed force for good, speaking truth to power.
