Ep 207 - Good News Friday: Bombshell on AI, 80 Martyrs Becoming Saints, and More!

James Caldwell: This is the Manly Catholic, the podcast that calls you out of the shadows and into the fight. Here we forge men into warriors for Christ, husbands, fathers, and leaders who refuse to kneel to the modern world's lies. No more passivity, no more excuses, no more lukewarm faith. This is your battle crowd, your call to arms. The time for weakness is over. It's time to fight. Welcome to the Manly Catholic. Let's get to work. Hello all, welcome back to another episode of the Manly Catholic. This is James, your host, and it is Friday, so you guys know what that means. It's time for some good news. If you're just joining us every week, we take a few minutes just to step back from everything, pulling at us. And look at what God is actually doing in his church right now. Because we get enough bad news, and it's time we actually get some good news. So let's dive right in. Story number one, the church's first encyclical on AI drops and it's doozy. Guys, this was ⁓ according to the Vatican website, the full text is about fifty six pages, including all the footnotes and everything. ⁓ so let's see, on Sunday, May 25th, Pentecost Sunday. Don't think that was coincidence. Pope Leo released his first encyclical. It is called Magnifica Humanitas or Magnificent Humanity. And it's the church's first ever major teaching document specifically addressing the rise of artificial intelligence. Now, for those of you who are just listening or just started, maybe you're not even Catholic, what is exactly an encyclical? Encyclical is a letter. From the Pope addressed to the bishops in the entire church, and in this case to, as Leo put it, Pope Leo put it, excuse me, every person of good will. It's one of the most authoritative forms of teaching the Pope can issue. This is the church speaking with her full weight on one of the most important questions of her time. Of note, remember this is not binding to lay Catholics, right? This is not Pope Leo exercising his authority ex cathedral or from the chair. So again, not everything he says is something that is binding, but is a good Teaching. And the timing could not have been more deliberate. Pope Leo signed it on May fifteenth, which was the one hundred and thirty fifth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the famous eighteen ninety one encyclical by Pope Leo the thirteenth. That was the church's response to the Industrial Revolution. Rare Movarum addressed workers' rights, private property, fair wages, and the dignity of labor, at a moment when the world was being transformed by machines. Irony, don't think so. Pope Leo XIV looked at what AI is doing to our world right now and said, This is the moment again to address the machines. The document is about forty-two thousand words. That's a serious piece of theological and philosophical work. It's organized around the church's entire tradition of social social teaching, and applies that tradition to questions like human dignity, labor, surveillance, weapons, creative work, and what it means to be a person made in the image and likeness of God. The opening line of the document is. Humanity created by God in all its grandeur is today facing a pivotal choice either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. Tower of Babel or City of God. That's the Pope putting the stakes on the table in his very first encyclical. He warns specifically about AI systems being used in warfare, about the erosion of privacy, about creative workers being displaced, and about AI simulating human voices, faces, and emotional relationships in ways that to quote him, encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships. On the day of his release, the Pope himself showed up in person at the Venid the Vatican's Synod Hall to present the document. And that's never been done before. Popes usually don't show up to press conferences for their own documents, but Pope Leo Walkedman himself sat alongside theologians and scholars and addressed the world on why he wrote it. One theologian said the time to talk about AI is now. It is indeed Urgent in the church, just for her full authority behind that statement. So make sure you check it out. I'll leave a link in the show notes for you guys. ⁓ it's something that's very powerful. I have not read it yet, but I am expecting to do so very shortly. Number two, eighty Spanish Civil War martyrs on the way to beatification. On May 22nd, Pope Leo the Fourteenth approved six decrees from the Dicaster for the Causes of Saints. And the biggest one is this: the eighty martyrs of the Spanish Civil War are officially on the path. Beatification. Their named are Francisco Gonzalez de Cordova and 79 Companions. There were 67 priests, three Carmelites, three seminarians, seven laypeople, all killed in the region of Santander in northern Spain between 1936 and 1937 during one of the bloodiest and most savage anti-Catholic persecutions in modern European history. The Spanish Civil War was not just a political conflict, but a religious war as well. In just three years, Approximately sixty eight hundred Catholic clergy and religious were executed. Churches were burned, seminaries were destroyed, and men and women were killed for no other reason than that they were priests, nuns, or devout Catholics. It was a systematic attempt to wipe out the faith in Spain. And these eighty faced their executors without flinching. The diocese noted that they died without renouncing their faith, and while forgiving their attackers, they even prayed for them. Pope Leo the Fourteenth is headed to Spain on an apostolic journey in just a few days as well. He is going back to a country whose soil is soaked in the blood of these martyrs. And before he arrives, he has said formally and officially the church sees these eighty men and women, and the church knows what they did. Also included in the May twenty second decrees the beatification of the Lebanese Maronite patriarch, Elias Hoyek, a man who was born in eighteen forty three and led the Maronite Church for over thirty years, serving the poor and the wounded during World War I, placing convents and monasteries at the disposal of the suffering Lebanese people, and he was nearly deported for it. He's on his way to becoming a blessed. Story number three. Meet Pedro Ballester, the next young saint. ⁓ he was born in Manchester, England in 1996 to Spanish parents. He was very smart studying chemical engineering at the Imperial College in London, one of the top universities in the world. And he was a member of Opus Day. He was known by everyone around him as a man of enormous joy, deep prayer, and constant generosity. In the fall of twenty fourteen, at just eighteen years old, he began having severe back pain, and then he went and got checked out, and he had advanced pelvic bone cancer. He accepted this diagnosis, according to the official edict from the diocese of Salford, as a way of sharing in Christ's cross. He continued in his vocation, he continued in his studies as much as he could, and he continued in his prayer. He continued serving others even when his body was failing him. Jack Valero of Opus Day, who was helping promote Pedro's cause for sainthood, said he was always happy and thinking of others even in the midst of terrible suffering. Pedro died on january thirteenth, twenty eighteen, at just twenty one years old. In the year since his death, his reputation for holiness has spread. People started praying through his intercession, and stories started flooding him. And on may thirteenth of this year, it was about two weeks ago, the diocese of Salford formally announced the opening of his cause for beatification and canonization. The diocese has said the opening of this cause marks an important step in recognizing the life and witness of a young man whose example of faith, especially in the face of suffering, continues to resonate with many people today. Cardinal Roche, who knew Pedro and his family, said he was said he believes the young man's life and example are drawing young people today who are disillusioned by the world in which we're living. Young people who look at political corruption, at the inconsistency of leadership, at the emptiness of the culture. And instead choose to go to church and discover God again. That's the kind of man the world is desperate for, and please pray for Padro's cause, Pedro's cause and for his intercession. Number four, the Pope, besides launching an encyclical on Wednesday, May 20th, he held his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, and he used the platform to launch a new series of catechesis on the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Specifically this week, he began a deep dive into Sancrosanctum Concilium, the Council's constitution of the sacred liturgy, promulgated in nineteen sixty three. Now, why does this matter? Because, of course, the liturgy is very important and Don't think this is lost, that ⁓ there's a lot of controversy surrounding Vatican two and some of the documents that came out as well. So Pope Leo put it plainly in his audience the liturgy immerses us in the mystery of Christ's Passion, death, resurrection, and glorification through liturgical rites and prayers, and by the power of the Spirit, Jesus exercises his priesthood and sanctifies the church. He also said, Let us allow ourselves to be shaped from the thing by the rites, symbols, gestures, and above all the living presence of Christ in the liturgy. Is he gonna address the controversy with the Latin mass? Who knows? This is a Pope who is taking mass seriously, so I surely hope he will address that as well. But what could cause some controversy among Catholics was he did have a guest with him, was his holiness Aram I, the Catholicos of the Holy See of Celia, Cilicia, excuse me, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is an Eastern Orthodox leader, and he was there in St. Peter's Square at the Pope's general audience as a sign of fraternal unity. Pope Leo spoke to him directly, welcoming him warm warmly, honoring the bond between their churches and asking for prayers toward full. Unity. Let us, of course, ask the Holy Spirit to unite the two churches and allow Eastern Orthodoxy to come back in line with the Catholic Church. And finally, tying in the first story and everything going on this week, the enciclic encyclical, obviously, ⁓ regarding AI drops on Pentecost, which I don't think that was an accident. He released it on May 25th. He signed it on May 18th, or May 15th, excuse me. Hundred thirty-fifth anniversary of Rare Navarum. Obviously, Pentecost, the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the church, the day that the disciples were suddenly set on fire and walked out into the streets to proclaim the gospel to every nation under heaven in every language, and three thousand people were baptized that day. That is the feast on which our Pope chose to release his first major teaching teaching document to the world. And I guess in a way he's saying this document comes from the Spirit. This proclamation is almost like a Pentecostal act. The church is not closing her doors and hiding. She's walking out into the streets of the digital age, into the age of artificial intelligence, and she's saying, We have something to tell you about what it means to be human. We have something to tell you about your dignity, and we have something to tell you about God. Because you, men, you're not an algorithm. You're not a data point. You are a son of God. And no machine can replicate that. But speaking of the algorithm, if you are enjoying this segment, please leave a comment. Hit like and subscribe on YouTube if you're watching to get the algorithm to share this with other men around the world. I hope you enjoyed this segment of Good News Friday. I am enjoying bringing this to you and learning more about the church. Again, getting rid of the bad news, bringing you some good news this week. Make sure you check out the document, the new document. I already forgot the name of it. That Pope Leo just released. Magnifica Humanitas. Again, it was released on May. twenty fifth. Thank you all so much for joining me. Until next time, go out there and be a saint. Brothers, thank you so much for listening to this episode. If the show has added value to your life, I'm going to ask you to do three things. Share with a brother who needs it, leave us a review, and finally support the show so we can keep fighting. Links are in the show notes. We'll see you next week.