Tag Archive for: Pope Leo

Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas

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SPECIAL EDITION

Armodoxy for Today: Pope Leo’s Encyclical on magnificent humanity…

While the Christian Church celebrated Pentecost over the past weekend, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” (magnificent humanity) reflecting on the Church’s social teaching for the age of artificial intelligence.

In an unusual gesture, the Pope presented the Encyclical at the launch. (Popes will author and sign encyclicals and, generally will leave the presentation or “launch” to Church officials or representatives.)

 

The full text of Magnifica Humanitas is available here.

One year ago, on the feast of Pentecost, we shared with you a summation of the “Epostle” mission and vision as the electronic arm of the Church, with the title Pentecost: Technology and Language. We began working with technology in the 1990s, and established the first broadcasts in 2000. We have developed social media and podcast content since 2008. But over the last year, AI related challenges before the Church have increased exponentially. And certainly, we at Epostle have experimented and presented different models demonstrating AI assistance. Last year, with AI assistance we dared to present our Christian topic videos in over ten different languages to reach audiences across the planet. Our 2025 “Reclaim” conference explored the implications of AI use within faith communities. Currently, we are working on models for a virtual AI assistant capable of answering faith questions according to the teachings outlined in Armodoxy, that will be available 24/7 and as requested. Of course, AI uses in religion have not been confined to the Christian quarters, nor to the West. Earlier this month, the first non-human was ordained as a Buddhist monk – a robot – in the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism in Seoul, South Korea.

With this encyclical Pope Leo’s message is clear: human dignity must be protected in the age of artificial intelligence, and humanity must resist building a future in which technology eclipses the human person or excludes God.  He challenges us to think beyond the comforts and ease that AI affords us and find the magnificence in humanity.  In his words, “the true alternative is not between enthusiasm and fear, but between two paths of development, a progress that serves individual and peoples, or a progress that subjects them to the mentality of power.”

On this auspicious occasion of Pope Leo’s Encyclical, we reiterate our commitment to the sacred calling of the Holy Church and our ability to engage in it with the tools of the day. Excerpted from our message last year,

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that of communications – to be able to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, to share the Gospel message with the world. …to preach the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted,  proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” (Luke 4)

As the earliest and most ancient of Tradition we are thankful to be able to accomplish this by the use of the latest language, that is technology. Today, on Pentecost, we celebrate our ability to engage in Apostolic evangelism in an electronic world. Our audience is expanding daily. We thank you for listening to our podcasts and broadcast, and sharing these messages with your family and friends. You’re plugging into new productions of podcasts, video lessons, daily messages, multiverse virtual presentations, virtual tours and much more, which are all spreading the message of peace and harmony through love as expressed and exemplified by Jesus Christ.

We take this opportunity to thank Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, the Diocesan Primate of the Western Diocese for his steadfast encouragement of this venture. In his words, Epostle is the future of the Church, available today! We will always strive to engage with new and innovative means by which to share the Gospel of love and hope. We thank you for taking this journey with us. May the blessings of the Holy Spirit be with you all, along with that of the Father and Son, now and always. Amen.

 

 

 

Unapologetic Apologies

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Next Step #802 – May 17, 2025 – Unapologetic Apologies – Pope Leo XIV’s papacy begins with a message of peace offered by the pontiff. Fr. Vazken breaks it down, and shares thoughts about the office of the successor of St. Peter and the Bishop Rome. “Unity in Essentials, Liberty in Secondary Matters, Charity in all things.” Who is the Bishop of the Ararat Valley? Synodality: The Catholics Discover what we’ve known. Unapologetically Fr. Vazken shares wishes and prayers to and for the Pope. And then… Apologetically a  look at genocide happening now, Gaza included. How the world stays silent in the face of atrocities of the magnitude of genocide. Why “Never Again” didn’t mean never again. No politics just human compassion is the call of the day. And more…
Pope Leo XIV first words…
Luys Vocal Quintet. Naregatsi Art Institute
The Pete Rose story
Leveraging Love
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for http://Epostle.net
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Adding a Simple Prayer to His

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Armodoxy for Today: Adding a Simple Prayer to His

Pope Leo XIV offered his first blessing and prayer as the head of the Roman  Catholic  Church, to thousands assembled at St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican yesterday, as millions more throughout the world watched and received the blessing virtually. Indeed, it was an emotional moment for the Pontiff as he transitioned from Cardinal Robert Prevost to head the 1.3 billion member Roman Catholic Church. Even from a distance, watching on screens and phones in different parts of the world, Catholics, believers, and even non-believers were visibly moved as many understood the gravity of the event.

Interesting to me was how quickly and readily the term “American” was volleyed around in the media, conveniently forgetting that the previous pope, Francis, of blessed memory, also came from the Americas. But, homeland is a major factor in defining and giving identity to an individual. Think of some of the first-day discussion that consumed news outlets when they discovered Pope Leo was from the City of Chicago: Was he a Cubs’ fan or a White Sox fan? Perhaps, excitement for geographic identity provides a good explanation as to why churches, which are united in their belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, are separated along ethnic and national lines, whether we’re talking about the Armenian Church, the Roman Catholic Church, or the Greek, Bulgarian, Georgian, Russian Orthodox, and even the American congregations of Presbyterian and Methodists. There is of course the AME, the African Methodist Church and of course, the Church of England. Often, the Christ, the center of Christianity, is lost in some of the traditions that align us with national preservation. Bishop Daniel Findikyan, of Holy Etchmiadzin, talks extensively about this in his book, Building up the Body of Christ. And musician John Lennon, as a dreamer points to the grave dangers of the consequence of national pride, when he asks us to “Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace…”

With that in mind, we turn to the first words of Pope Leo XIV, in his message. “Peace be with all of you! Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for God’s flock. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your heart, to reach your families, to all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to the whole earth. Peace be with you! “

To his prayer, tonight, we add most appropriately, Amen.