Artificial intelligence and the digital systems on which it is based represent a total environment — the world, plain and simple — in which machines produce culture rather than human beings. The humanistic challenge lies in shaping a way of inhabiting this (digital) world, begetting culture through practices of love that enable each individual to […]
Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical offers theological and humanistic insights into the potential and risks of artificial intelligence for human dignity. It is also a declaration of the “dream of a new modernity,” in which the Catholic Church, nations, peoples, and international institutions collaborate to create ways of inhabiting the world that are worthy of […]
Can Nixon’s 1971 analysis of China be helpful today? The country is very different from 55 years ago, but the American challenges could be just as important. On June 9, 1971, Henry Kissinger arrived in Pakistan with a delegation. Something he had eaten must have disagreed with him for he retired to his room with […]
The US avoided a quagmire in the Gulf, but the peace agreement is not ideal. America needs a long-term plan for the region, and China The issue of the peace agreement between the United States and Iran is full of traps and snares. It has pitfalls that could create problems in the region for America and […]
The President wants America Great Again; the Pope wants liberty and care for the poor for the whole world. The complex intra-religious relationships between the two dreams The real beginning is with Rerum Novarum, the encyclical that Leo XIII (the predecessor of Leo XIV) issued in 1891. In 1891, the Church had lost the Papal […]
The Estonian Supreme Court rejected the petition filed by President Alar Karis challenging the constitutionality of the Churches Act. In its June 8 ruling, the Court acknowledged the petition’s merit but stated that, when interpreted strictly, the law is not unconstitutional (by a vote of 11 to 6). The bill was approved by Parliament on […]
Tehran has not lost, but neither has it won. The new phase of reconstruction will be delicate, with divided leadership. Russia could be crumbling, and China needs to pick up the pieces, but what? The peace announcement about the war between the US and Iran marks a new strategic phase for both countries. Iran is […]
