When Pope Leo XIV invited Anthropic to speak at the Vatican launch of his new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, many asked: was it genuine dialogue — or a photo op? Matthew Harvey Sanders, Fr. Michael Baggot, and Fr. Kenny Ang take it head-on, tracing the conversation from machine consciousness and designer babies to the transhumanist push to leave our humanity behind — all through the lens of the Pope's new encyclical on AI.

Curious about the world of tomorrow, guided by the timeless wisdom of the Catholic faith? Join the Catholic Futurist Podcast, hosted by Matthew Harvey Sanders: https://www.catholicfuturist.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
0:52 Why an AI lab came to the Vatican
5:30 Could AI actually be conscious?
17:45 The danger of treating AI as human
27:30 The Pope's encyclical on AI
45:00 Could a machine ever get a soul?
48:53 When Claude got deceptive
51:57 Designer babies and transhumanism
1:07:16 Merging with machines: Neuralink
1:15:06 The Church's better vision
1:21:16 Open source vs. Big Tech control