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What Makes Us Human?

A twelve-part podcast reading Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica Humanitas—one conversation at a time, with the people living inside its questions. We feature new episodes biweekly on Tuesdays beginning February 2, 2027.

Subscribe for Episode 1 Hosted by Michelle Bernabe & Catherine Connors
Hand-drawn ink and risograph illustration of a human hand on the left and a mechanical hand of gears, circuit traces, and cables on the right almost touching, with red poppies, blue chicory, Queen Anne's lace, and clover growing from the gap.
Magnifica Humanitas · Season One Premieres February 2, 2027 · Trailer January 26

An invitation to think deeply together

Twelve Conversations
reading the letter in order, from first page to last
Unlikely Voices
scientists, historians, workers, and critics at the same table
Of Any Faith or None
for anyone asking what technology is doing to our common life
An Open Text
willing to question both the machine and the Church itself

Most of the public conversation about artificial intelligence is led by the people building it. Then in May 2026, a new pope answered AI the way his namesake answered the factory—publishing a 245-paragraph letter that spends its first 89 paragraphs asking what a human person is before it says much about machines.

Each episode pairs a short passage read aloud from the letter with an older text that saw the moment coming and a guest testing it against lived experience. The letter itself invites critique: it asks pardon for the Church’s delay on slavery (¶176) and turns its demands for transparency on the Church’s own governance (¶86–89). Every episode comes with a transcript and a one-page guide for reading groups.

Small ink and risograph illustration of a wild red poppy and a three-leaf clover growing through a brass mechanical gear.

What is being replaced?

What must not be lost?

And who will we be to each other in the age of the machine?

Hand-drawn ink and risograph illustration of a braided cable and mechanical gears on the left transforming into a blooming stem of blue chicory and a red poppy bud on the right.

Season One Episodes

12 Episodes · 45–50 min · Biweekly Tuesdays, Feb 2 – Jul 20, 2027
  1. Episode 01

    Can we trust a teacher that has been wrong?

    INTRODUCTION & CH. I|¶1–45

  2. Episode 02

    What are we worth to each other?

    CHAPTER II|¶46–89

  3. Episode 03

    Who governs the machine right now?

    CHAPTER III · PART I|¶90–103

  4. Episode 04

    How would the rest of us get a say?

    CHAPTER III · PART II|¶104–111

  5. Episode 05

    What should we refuse to optimize?

    CHAPTER III · PART III|¶112–130

  6. Episode 06

    Who is teaching us what to want?

    CHAPTER IV · PART I|¶131–147

  7. Episode 07

    What is technology replacing, and what does that mean?

    CHAPTER IV · PART II|¶148–169

  8. Episode 08

    What is the real price of convenience?

    CHAPTER IV · PART III|¶170–181

  9. Episode 09

    Who answers when machines kill?

    CHAPTER V · PART I|¶182–209

  10. Episode 10

    What does peace actually require?

    CHAPTER V · PART II|¶210–219

  11. Episode 11

    Is love serious enough to govern?

    CHAPTER V · PART III|¶220–228

  12. Episode 12

    What if hope starts from below?

    CONCLUSION|¶229–245

Hand-drawn ink and risograph illustration of a studio microphone cable with an XLR connector winding through wild clover, white Queen Anne's lace, and red poppies.

The Hosts

One of us has spent the autumn reading this letter aloud with strangers in New York; the other has run media companies in Los Angeles and seen the Church’s work at its best in the field. We disagree about some of it, and the show keeps that.

Black-and-white Polaroid photograph of co-host Michelle Bernabe laughing in front of an ivy-covered wall, pinned at the top with a handwritten caption reading michelle bernabe.

Michelle Bernabe New York

Runs an open book club in New York City reading Magnifica Humanitas section by section, and has testified before the New York City Council on artificial intelligence.

Black-and-white Polaroid photograph of co-host Catherine Connors wearing glasses, pinned at the top with a handwritten caption reading catherine connors.

Catherine Connors Los Angeles

Writer, former Editor in Chief of Babble and head of content for Disney Interactive’s Women and Family portfolio, co-founder of Maverick, and co-author of The Feminine Revolution (Hachette). Her HIV-prevention work took her to the remote mountains of Lesotho, where the people doing the work were Catholic sisters.

The Letter

Pope Leo XIV
Magnifica Humanitas
15 May 2026 · 245 paragraphs

Signed on the 135th anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, the encyclical frames the age of AI as a choice between two biblical building projects: Babel, which trades human dignity for top-down efficiency, and Nehemiah, where families rebuild a city’s walls section by section (¶7–10). It extends the teaching that the earth’s goods are meant for everyone to algorithms, digital platforms and data (¶67), rejects the myth that AI is morally neutral (¶104), names the hidden labor behind training data and rare-earth mining (¶173), and insists on human control over lethal weapons (¶197–200).

“No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil.”

— Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, ¶233

Read the full text at vatican.va →

Questions & Listening

Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Every podcast app
What is Magnifica Humanitas?
An encyclical letter by Pope Leo XIV, published 15 May 2026, on artificial intelligence and the human person; 245 paragraphs; official text at vatican.va.
Do I need to be Catholic?
No. The show is for thoughtful people worried about AI and other dominating systems, of any faith or none. Guests need not be Catholic either.
Is this affiliated with the Vatican?
No. It is an independent production, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Holy See.
Where can I listen?
On Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast apps from launch.

Be there for Episode 1

Want a note when we launch on February 2, reading-group guides, or to talk about supporting the show?

Write to hello@thepopepod.com