We are living in an age shaped by artificial intelligence, digital connectivity, algorithmic power, and unprecedented scientific achievement.
AI now influences medicine, communication, economics, warfare, education, governance, and even our understanding of human identity.
Many celebrate these developments as signs of limitless human progress.
Yet beneath the excitement lies a deeper moral question: Are we using technology to protect and preserve human dignity? This question lies at the heart of Pope Leo XIV’s recent teaching document, “Magnifica Humanitas”.
To frame his reflection, the Pope draws two biblical images: the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Neh 2-6). These narratives provide a rich theological lens through which to examine the ethical and spiritual challenges of the contemporary world.
Far from being merely an ancient explanation for linguistic diversity, the story of Babel offers a profound critique of human pride, technological absolutism, centralised power, and the illusion of self-sufficiency apart from God.
In the Babel narrative, humanity becomes absorbed in itself. The people say to one another: “Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4).
Australian bishops welcome Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical ‘Magnifica humanitas’
Their ambition is directed neither toward the glory of God nor the common good, but toward self-exaltation. Human aspiration becomes centred on pride, power, and self-sufficiency.
This attitude reflects the deeper reality of humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden. In the fall, Adam and Eve turned away from trusting God and sought to place themselves at the centre.
Rather than receiving life as a gift from God, they desired independence and the power to determine good and evil for themselves.
Sin, therefore, is not merely disobedience; it is the attempt to replace God with the self as the ultimate point of reference.
The Tower of Babel continues this fallen condition. Humanity seeks to reach heaven by its own power.
The tower becomes a symbol of pride and the illusion that security, greatness, and unity can be achieved without God.
Instead of building communion through humility and obedience, the people seek to “make a name” for themselves.
The tragedy of Babel is not the act of building. Human creativity is a gift from God, and technological development is not inherently evil. The problem lies in the spirit that animates the project. God had commanded Noah and his descendants: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1).
Yet the builders of Babel refuse this divine mandate. Rather than spreading throughout the earth according to God’s plan, they gather in self-sufficiency and rebellion.
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Babel thus becomes a symbol of humanity’s attempt to secure its identity, future, greatness and permanence on its own terms. What appears outwardly as unity is, in reality, a rejection of dependence upon God.
Consequently, the very project intended to create unity results in confusion and division. Those who sought greatness apart from God become scattered and unable to understand one another.
Scripture reveals a profound truth: whenever human beings sever their relationship with God, relationships with one another are also wounded. Self-centredness inevitably leads to fragmentation.
This stands in striking contrast to the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls under Nehemiah. There, the people work together not for personal glorification but for the restoration of the community.
Their efforts are marked by cooperation, shared responsibility, concern for the common good and trust in God. Babel represents pride seeking self-exaltation; Nehemiah represents humble service directed toward the communion, restoration and the common good.
The contrast speaks powerfully to the modern age, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence and rapid technological advancement. Technology itself is not the enemy.
Yet, it can become a new “Tower of Babel” when driven primarily by profit, prestige, domination, or the pursuit of power. Society risks valuing efficiency over compassion, power over truth, and success over human dignity.
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This spirit of Babel is evident whenever individuals or societies reject the idea that human life possesses a God-given order and meaning. Instead of receiving identity as a gift from the Creator, many insist on defining reality entirely for themselves. The prevailing attitude becomes: ‘I alone determine truth, identity and morality’.
At the heart of this mentality lies the ancient temptation from Eden: “You will be like God” (Gen 3:5).
Humanity no longer wishes to receive wisdom from the Creator but seeks radical self-determination. The modern person is tempted to become the sole architect of meaning, identity, and moral truth.
In such a worldview, obedience, and reverence before God are often viewed not as pathways to authentic freedom but as obstacles to personal autonomy.
Pope Leo XIV reminds us in Magnifica Humanitas that the antidote to Babel is not the rejection of progress but the recovery of authentic human flourishing.
Human creativity must remain rooted in humility, truth, accountability, moral responsibility and reverence for God. Technology should serve the dignity of the human person and the common good, never human arrogance or domination.
The biblical tradition insists that human dignity does not arise from intelligence, productivity or efficiency alone, but from being created in the image and likeness of God. Human beings are relational, moral, spiritual, and embodied creatures.
Artificial intelligence may imitate aspects of reasoning, language, and creativity, but it cannot replace conscience, empathy, sacrificial love, or spiritual transcendence.
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For this reason, the development of AI requires not only innovation but also ethical restraint, global accountability, profound moral responsibility, and authentic human encounter.
The biblical vision does not oppose human creativity; rather, it calls humanity to place creativity within an ethical and spiritual horizon grounded in humility and wisdom. The true opposite of Babel is not technological regression but wisdom—the wisdom that recognises that not everything that can be built ought to be built.
Genuine greatness does not come from making a name for ourselves, but from using human gifts in service of truth, justice, communion, and the dignity of every person.
The encyclical does not condemn technology; rather, it calls humanity to ensure that technological progress remains at the service of the human person and the common good.
The Christian response is neither fear nor naive optimism, but moral discernment rooted in the Gospel.
As the Pope observes, “when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanisation, our is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human.
We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fulness in Christ, the splendour of which no machine can ever replace”.
Fr Biju Jose OSH is the Parish Priest of Ku-ring-gai Chase Catholic Parish.
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