Good afternoon, everyone. It is Saturday, May 10, 2025. It is currently 4.32 p.m. Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, for those of you who are very knowledgeable about music, you'll catch the reference. To the rest of you, you don't need to worry about it, but should I stay or should I go? That is the question. Well, it's not about staying or going. It's, well, should I? Or shouldn't I? What should I do here? Should I talk about the new pope? How much should I talk about the new pope? How much should I talk about what's going on in the world of Catholicism? How much should it just be ignored? Well, for the most part, in the non-Catholic world, in the Protestant world, people don't give a lot of attention to it. And whenever Catholicism is mentioned from the pulpit, it's always mentioned like, okay, we're going to condemn this, we're going to condemn this, we're going to condemn this, we're going to kind of maybe, sometimes it's almost done in a mocking way, a condemning way, a derogatory way, and then we just move on. And we all feel superior because, well, know we don't have popes and we don't pray to Mary and we don't have and we don't believe in purgatory and we just kind of go after with some of the four five six big things that are constantly mentioned and we just kind of mock it and we're just kind of done with it even if it's not done in a mocking way it's just the only time you speak of it is to condemn it you don't really seek any understanding of it. And that's typically what people expect, right? If they see a podcast episode from a non-Catholic podcast, or if someone on Sermon Audio is looking and they see something about the Pope or the Vatican or Catholicism, expecting to tune in and hear someone just put Catholicism on full blast, just tear it apart, and destroy it, and condemn it. And typically my approach to Catholicism is always somewhat different. I want to look at it understanding it, taking it apart, taking it apart theologically, historically, accurately, and I'm usually more bothered, and I know this always ticks off people, I'm more bothered by the Catholicism that I find in the non-Catholic world, in the evangelical world, lordship, salvation, fundamentalism. I get more bothered by the Catholicism I see there than Catholicism itself, because Catholicism itself acknowledges, hey, we believe in a salvation and justification based off an infused righteousness, not an imputed righteousness. They acknowledge it. And over there in the fundamentalist evangelical lordship salvation world, they will scream, we believe in a solid justification by imputed righteousness, and then turn around and deny that and their actual teaching when it comes to salvation, because they all believe in something being infused. And then they talk about proving salvation based off works, not off the works of Christ, but off your—and we could go on and on. That's where I get bothered. So, What should I do? Do I cover it? Do I not? Because if I cover it, I'm going to go against expectations. People just want me to bash it. But the more I understand about Catholicism, then to me, the better I am at spotting it in the evangelical, fundamentalist, non-Catholic world. But then that only makes enemies of the people in that world, because I'll call them Catholic and they'll we're not Catholic, we don't like Catholicism, but your teaching is in line with it. And the reason they don't see that their teaching is in line with it is because they've never actually studied Catholicism. So it always puts me in this weird like, what do I do? Should I or shouldn't I? Well, with a new Pope being elected, seems like a good time to maybe really dig in and focus in on what's being said, right? I mean, whether we like it or not, Catholicism is the probably most influential religious, you know, say the Catholic Church is the most influential church in the world. I think that's pretty fair to say in many ways. Some may try to argue, but I mean, come on, what, a billion Catholics in the world? I mean, globally, the Catholic Church is very influential, even though you may not pay any attention to it. And you can't study church history without bumping into Catholicism, right? So, I mean, So I should pay attention to it to some level, but is there an audience for it? Is there a real audience for me taking it apart? Now, I'm not saying I'm the most qualified, because by no means am I. I mean, I did pursue working on a degree in Catholic theology because I wanted to be able to speak about Catholicism from a position of knowledge, not one of ignorance. So I do believe I have some, I won't say expertise, some knowledge that gives me insight that I think can be interesting, but it's only interesting to people who really want to get into the theological weeds, right? I think the average person just wants me to say, Pope, bad. Catholics, bad. Catholics burn in hell. Mary's not God. I mean, they just want you to say kind of the basic cliches, and then they'll say, Amen! Tear those Catholics apart! Yeah! Yeah! And then that's what they want. Well, I don't give them that, so they're not interested. They're like, you're getting into all these church history, theological, encyclical letters. I don't care about all of that. And I can understand why they don't. So is there an audience for it? But there's also a challenge. So whenever you start talking about Catholicism, you do bump into these encyclical letters with the names of these documents in Latin. Am I going to even say them correctly? Am I going to mispronounce them? There's all these popes and there's history and cardinals and this and this. There's so much to, and you're like, I could, it's much easier for me to stumble. over names, stumble over the names of documents. There's always the chance of, okay, wait a minute, the Pope is making a reference to this document, so how much of the document do I read? If I decide to follow along with what Pope Leo XIV is doing, the new pope. Do I read his homilies word for word, or do I summarize them? If he writes an entire encyclical, which he will probably within three to six months, do I take that encyclical apart by going line by line by line? There's all kinds of like, how do I cover it? How much do I cover it? What do I do? I still don't have that figured out. I don't. But I'm going to do my very best, at least for a little bit. So here's what we're going to do today on the Theology Central podcast. I'm going to turn our attention to the newly elected Pope Leo XIV. And that name, Pope Leo, That name was chosen with historical weight, and I think in somewhat forward-looking intent. When the popes choose their names, it's very significant. It's very symbolic. And I think the average person is like, oh, Pope Francis, Pope Leo, Pope John, Pope Benedict. As a non-Catholic, we don't sometimes see the significance of it. fair, the average Catholic probably doesn't see the significance of it either. But in many cases, there's great theological significance and intent behind it. In his first address, Pope Leo XIV, in his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo invoked the legacy of Pope Leo XIII's groundbreaking Rerum Novarum. very important document, Rerum Novarum, that's, if you want to spell it out, R-E-R-U-M, Rerum Novarum, N-O-V-A-R-U-M, and it's Navarum, I think, is the better way to say it. But in his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV invoked the legacy of Pope Leo XIII in his groundbreaking Rerum Novarum. Now, you may not understand the significance of that document. We will talk about what the document was, the date of it. It's basic. We're going to go through all of it. But in this address, he's invoking Pope Leo XIII. He's now Pope Leo XIV, but he's invoking the legacy of that pope in this, many would say, very groundbreaking document. Rerum Novarum. And this is the thing. If you want to understand modern-day Catholicism, you kind of have to understand this document. And guess what? Talk to your average Catholic. They've never even heard of the document. They don't know it, but they've been influenced by it. And a lot of people, when they, I think a lot of people, when they look at the Catholic Church today and they make criticisms, sometimes I want to say, have you ever read Rerum Novarum? Have you ever looked at that document? And of course they haven't. So how can you be critical? Yeah, sometimes I just get baffled at the criticism. So in his first address, he kind of invokes the legacy of Pope Leo XIII, again, Rerum Novarum. And he's declaring, this is what Pope Leo XIV, declaring that the church must now respond to a new industrial revolution. So Pope Leo XIV, when addressing the College of Cardinals, when addressing the College of Cardinals, he basically is like, all right, guys, we have to now respond to a new industrial revolution. Now that's very key. See, if you know something about what's happening here, why would he say a new industrial revolution? Because he is pulling from the legacy of Pope Leo XIII's document, Rerum Novarum. Why? Okay, well, it's all going to make sense. So Pope Leo XIV is like, all right, guys, we have to respond to a new industrial revolution. And that new industrial revolution is the rise of artificial intelligence and digital transformation. But what does that really mean for the church's mission? does it mean for the Church's theology? What does it mean for the Church's people? So in this episode, I'm going to try to unpack the story behind the name Leo, Pope Leo. I'm going to try to analyze the theme of his address that he gave to the College of Cardinals. I'm going to try to reflect on the Catholic Church's place in a world shaped not by coal and steel, but by algorithms, data, and code. So I'm going to try to provide a comprehensive analysis. I'm going to try to provide a summary. I'm going to try to provide an outline. I'm going to try to provide a critique. I'm going to try to provide a reflection on Pope Leo XIV's first address to the College of Cardinals. I know what you're thinking. You're calling your friends right now. He's going to address Pope Leo XIV's speech to the College of Cardinals. Tune in right now. Come on. Hurry up. This is the greatest thing I've ever heard. I know nobody cares. I know nobody cares. But I, again, I still think there's some significance here. Now, if I go, so I'm gonna do this. If I go here, where do I find it? Where do I find it? Where do I find it? Where do I find it? Hang on, I've got it saved here. If I go to the VaticanNews.va, VaticanNews.va, That's VaticanNewsAllRunTogether.va. That will take me to the Vatican News website. Right there on the Vatican News website, I see this headline, Pope Leo XIV to Cardinals. The church must respond to digital revolution. All right, so Pope Leo XIV speaking to the College of Cardinals. Guys, we must respond to the digital revolution. Now, I'm reading directly from this news article. In his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV invokes the legacy of both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIII, saying that he wants the church to respond to a new industrial revolution and to the development of artificial intelligence. In his formal address to the College of Cardinals following his election, Pope Leo XIV has revealed the inspiration behind the name he chose. one which, in his own words, echoes the Church's enduring commitment to human dignity and social justice. Now, human dignity I understand why he would emphasize that, because he wants to emphasize human dignity over this new digital revolution. We have a digital revolution, and what could be lost within the digital revolution is human dignity. All right, that makes sense. We could have a profound philosophical discussion about how the digital revolution begins to minimize or destroy or corrupt human dignity. Great conversation, we could have it. he mentions the word social justice. Now the mention, the mere mention of social justice will send Trump supporters into an absolute frenzy and sadly many conservative Christians, social justice, that's woke, that's liberal, that's ungodly. Oh no, we don't want social justice. The last thing we want is justice in our society. We don't want justice. We want, I don't know what we want. It's crazy. But this is what ticks me off, is Christians will not address things from a theological perspective. They hear social justice and they want to start throwing their political verbiage at it. They want to throw their political ideology, which just shows that they're not responding theologically because they've been corrupted politically. When you're corrupted politically, you no longer respond theologically, because now everything is framed in terms of MAGA, or Trump, or Republicans, or Democrats. Stop looking at the world through your political lens. Take your political glasses, smash them into a million pieces, and then throw them in the ocean. No, no, don't do that. The ocean's polluted enough. Don't throw it in the ocean. Throw it somewhere else. Just get rid of it, okay? So that's already gonna be just cause some problems. Pope Leo XIV with the historical and cyclical Rerum Novorum, all right, okay, I cannot stress this enough. It is a historical and cyclical. Pope Leo with that historical and cyclical Rerum Novorum address the social question and the context of the first great industrial revolution. Pope Leo recalled, today, the Church offers to all her treasure of social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and the development of artificial intelligence. So today, the Church offers to all her treasure of social teaching So he says, hey, the church has this great treasure of social teaching. Where is that great treasure of social teaching found? Hmm, let me see. Oh, could it be in the encyclical Rerum Novarum? I think it is. So Pope Francis said, we've got this great treasure on social teaching. And guess what? We're going to offer it in response to another industrial revolution and the development of artificial intelligence. We are seeing another industrial revolution, and we're watching the development of artificial intelligence. And Pope Leo XIV is saying, I need to offer to you the treasure of the church's teaching on social teaching to these new developments. And so he chose, and so this is very important, Pope Leo is a name then not only rooted in tradition, but one that looks firmly ahead to the challenges of a rapidly changing world and a perennial call to protect those most vulnerable with it. So that's the setup. Now, I could read this entire article. I could work through every paragraph. But I thought, let me put this together in more of a summary kind of way. So I'm gonna try to summarize a lot of this and try to break it down for you so that you can get the most important parts. Of course, I utilize artificial intelligence to help me because it's much quicker. I can give AI all the basic words and say, okay, let's formulate this. So we put something together and that's what we're gonna look at, all right? So here we go. Now, this is the summary of kind of what I kind of already gave you the summary. So I'll repeat this. relatively fast. So I can just kind of get through this relatively quick because I don't want to spend too much time repeating what I just said because then people will accuse me of being redundant and repetitive and they'll get irritated. So here's a quick summary. In his first official address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV invoked the legacy of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Francis, establishing a clear vision for his pontificate. I told you we need to be on the lookout for this, right? When is he going to lay out his vision for his pontificate? Where does he see this going? Well, this is where he starts laying it out. One, and he wanted to lay out a clear vision of his pontificate, one that is rooted in Catholic social teaching. there's that social teaching part, and oriented towards the ethical challenges of the digital age and artificial intelligence. He emphasized the church's continuing responsibility to uphold human dignity, especially in light of technological change. which I just mentioned, while honoring the simplicity in the service of Pope Francis, his address intertwined tradition with forward-looking encouragement, calling for unity, faith, and a recommitment to the mission of the church in a rapid evolving world. So Pope, I was going to say Pope Francis, Leo XIV was basically like, hey, the world is changing. Technology is developing rapidly. Now, how do we move forward in this? Well, obviously, you can see some of the major themes. We've got to emphasize human dignity and we've got to think about social justice. I know that's going to, I know, I know some of you conservatives are already like, burn it, burn down the Vatican. We have another liberal. We have another woke pope. And I, Yeah, I heard Alex Jones the other day losing his mind over this very issue as well. So everyone can calm down and we'll just see though. Now, I'm not saying we can't criticize. I'm just saying we want to look at it from a theological perspective. So here's some of the key points. Name and inspiration. Pope Leo XIV invoked as a model, that's why he chose this name, for engaging industrial and social upheaval. He chose Pope Leo XIV because this is symbolic, because Pope Leo, the name, serves as a model for engaging industrial and social upheaval. Where does this go back to? It goes back to the encyclical Rerum Novarum. It goes back to that encyclical. Now let me tell you a little bit about, so we'll do a complete overview of Rerum Novarum in a minute. So Pope Leo XIV invoked as a model for engaging industrial and social upheaval Rerum Novarum. AI and digital revolution, Pope Leo XIV sees this as a parallel to the first industrial revolution requiring renewed moral reflection. So basically what Pope Leo XIV does is like, hey, if we go back to the first industrial revolution, Those challenges and those difficulties that were present at that time are very similar to the challenges that we need at this time, and we need a renewed moral reflection. So his papal name, Pope Leo XIV, signifies continuity with tradition So he wants continuity with the way Pope Leo XIII addressed things during the Industrial Revolution, but he wants to respond to the present age. He doesn't want his response to be back to the first Industrial Revolution. He wants it to be about this new Industrial Revolution, which is, well, one of the key elements is the rise of artificial intelligence. Now, the only way to understand all of this is to understand Rerum Novorum, all right? So let's look at this, all right? Rerum Novorum. Rerum Novorum, if we translate it, of new things. Well, is that not relevant? Now, Rerum Novorum is a foundational Catholic, social, and cyclical. It is a foundational one. Now, if you go to a Catholic university, Sometimes you study the encyclicals, right? There is a program on EWTN, I always forget the name of the priest, where he covers encyclical letters. That's all he does. He sits there, he sits at a desk, there's a live audience, and he just reads. No, I think sometimes he stands. No, I take that back. He's not sitting. I think he's usually standing. Standing kind of in front of a lectern, and then he reads word for word. All the audience has a copy of the encyclical. And then he just reads word for word through the entire encyclical, offering commentary and explanation. It's always fascinating. Sometimes it can be very kind of like, well, it's not very dramatic, but yeah. And sometimes it takes, you know, it seems like six months for them to get through an encyclical, but it always gives you some kind of insight into these encyclical letters. But when it comes to, well, a foundational one, when it comes to Catholic social, social issues or how to address social issues. Rerum Novorum is foundational as a Catholic social encyclical. It was issued by Pope Leo XIII. Oh, guess when it was issued? Come on. Does anybody know? May the 15th, 1891. anniversary of it is coming up. It is considered the birth of modern Catholic social teaching, and it was written in response to the social and economic upheaval of the Industrial Revolution. That's why Pope Leo XIV referred to it. Hey, that's why he chose the name Pope Leo. Hey, he was facing the Industrial Revolution. We are facing a new Industrial Revolution. So I'm going to take the name Pope Leo XIV, and I have to address this new revolution just as Pope Leo XIII addressed it. But we have this document, this encyclical, Rerum Novorum, as kind of the treasure the Church has to offer it to this new challenge. That's pretty brilliant in my... I think it's logical, it's fascinating, and it gives us insight on what he's going to focus on. See? I've given you insight into the new pontificate of Pope Leo XIV. Hopefully that's somewhat beneficial. Again, Rerum Novorum is considered the birth of modern-day Catholic social teaching. So when, I get so irritated when people start yelling and screaming about something the popes are saying about a social issue, and I just want to be like, where have you been? Where were you? It's only been around since 1891, I don't know, and now you're yelling and screaming and griping about it? Oh, they're liberal, they're Marxist, they're fascist, they're whatever political. Just stop! You don't have a clue what you're talking about. Modern day Catholic social teaching comes from Rerum Novarum, which was issued by Pope Leo XIII on May the 15th, 1891. Sometimes it just drives me crazy listening to people, all right? And it was a response to what, ladies and gentlemen, if you're taking my class on Catholicism, it was a response to what? Social and economic upheaval caused by what? The Industrial Revolution. Everybody got that? It will be on the test. And if you failed my class, I don't know. You go to Purgatory. Okay, I'm joking. I don't believe in Purgatory. I mean, I guess I could send you, isn't there a ski slopes called Purgatory? Is that New Mexico, Colorado in there? I think so, maybe, I don't. You go somewhere. All right, so that's the number one key point is the name and the inspiration. Now, I'm sorry, we're still talking about Rerum Novorum. So we've talked about what it is. Now, here's some key things to know about Rerum Novorum. I want to go deeper into this. I was just going to skip over this, but let's do this. The historical context. Rerum Novorum was written during the rise of capitalism, industrialization, and urbanization. It responded to growing worker exploitation, because workers were being exploited, harsh labor conditions, and the spread of socialism and Marxism. Did you know that that's what it was responding to? Worker exploitation, harsh labor conditions, and the spread of socialism and Marxism. What are some of the key teachings? Number one, the dignity of work and the worker. Work is not just a commodity, it's part of human dignity. Workers have a right to just wages, safe conditions, rest, and respect. Oh, is that too liberal? Is that too woke for some of you? Now, why would they say that? Because they're defending the dignity of human beings being created in the image of God. Another core teaching, the right to private property. Strongly rejection of socialism's call to abolish private property, but also insist that property comes with social responsibility. Number three, the role of the state. Government must protect the rights of workers and the poor. The state must not control everything against socialism, but must intervene when justice demands. So you don't want to be a socialist, but you have to intervene and care about justice. So it tries to find that balance. Another, the family is a central social unit. The family precedes the state and must be protected. Workers must earn enough to support their families. right to form unions. It supports the formation of labor unions to defend workers' rights, sees unions as a counterbalance to the power of capital. Now, we can get into all kinds of discussions about these and debates about this. I'm just telling you what this document did and what it talked about. That's all I'm trying to do. Moral and religious foundations emphasize that Christian ethics must guide both employer and worker, and economic systems must respect human dignity, not just profit. What is the significance and legacy of Rerum Novorum? It launched the Catholic Church's formal engagement with modern social issues. Its principles continue to shape Catholic teaching on economics, on social justice, on human rights, and the common good. Another thing, acknowledgment of burden and gratitude. It called the papacy a... Okay, hang on. Okay, wait. So there... I'm sorry. Those are all the things I want you to know about Rerum Novarum. We give the historical context, the core teachings. And the significance and the legacy. That's all that. Now, let's go back to the summary and the key things to know about the, I'm sorry, let's go back to the outline of key points to the Pope Leo XIV's address. I had to take a little detour to give you all that about Rerum Novorum. Now let's go back. So let's go back to the key points. Number one, name and inspiration. Pope Leo XIV invoked as a model Pope Leo XIV invoked as a model for engaging industrial and social upheaval Rerum Novarum and Pope Leo XIII. AI and digital revolution, Pope Leo XIV sees these as a parallel to the first industrial revelation requiring new renewed moral reflection. His papal name, Pope Leo, signifies continuity with tradition and a responsiveness to the present digital age. So we talked about all of that. There's the name and inspiration. Now that we took a break to look at Rerum Novorum, now let's go back to another point from Pope Leo XIV's address. Acknowledgement of burden and gratitude. Pope Leo XIV called the papacy a yoke far beyond my strength. Express deep humility and dependence on the grace of God and support from the cardinals. paid tribute to Pope Francis, recognized his simplicity, dedication to service, and peaceful passing. He described his death and the conclave as a Paschal event, symbolizing death, resurrection, a moment of transition wrapped in hope." Now, we could read all of the exact words, but these are some of the things he did. He gave a spiritual reflection. Now, we could get into the theological and hermeneutical issues here, but he cited Elijah's encounter with God in the gentle breeze to emphasize divine stillness over spectacle and urged that this still, intimate presence of Christ must guide the church's path. So we need to be still and to be silent. We don't need spectacle, and we need to hear the voice. Now, of course, I would say God only speaks to us in Scripture alone. Of course, they believe in apostolic succession, papal authority. Okay, we could get into all of the distinctions there. Ecclesiology and mission. He described the church in his address. This is Pope Leo XIV's address to the College of Cardinals. He described the church as a womb, a flock, a field, and a temple. All of that could be greatly taken apart, all right? He praised the unity shown during the mourning of Pope Francis, calling it an example of the church's true greatness. Now, remember, we had told you he's going to have to try to focus on unity. So he pointed, he praised what unity he has seen. He talked about continuity with Vatican II. and Pope Francis, and he reaffirmed themes from another document. Evangelii Gaudium. Evangelii Gaudium. That's the next document that was mentioned in this address by Pope Leo XIV to the College of Cardinals. So he talked about continuity with Vatican II and Pope Francis. He reaffirmed themes from Evangelii Gaudium, things like the primacy of Christ, the popular piety, care for the poor, engagement with the world. Now, what do we know about Evangelii Gaudium? Well, if we were to translate it, it means the joy of the gospel. This was an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis issued on November 24, 2013. And Pope Leo XIV reaffirms this document. What is it? Evangelii Gaudium is Pope Francis' first major teaching document, and it outlined his vision for the Church. It is an apostolic exhortation. It was not an encyclical, but it carries substantial theological and pastoral weight. different documents have different weight and different authority, right? So you'd have to look at a chart, encyclical, papal bull, apostolic, what's this one? This one is an apostolic exhortation. They all have different levels of authority, different binding. And so we can get into a whole discussion about that, all right? It set the tone for Francis's entire pontificate. So if you want to understand Pope Francis as a pope, well, if you went and read Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel, you would understand his entire pontificate. Now, if you don't, people say things about his pontificate, and you want to be like, well, you don't seem to understand. What was the central theme? The central theme was the church must become a joyful, missionary church that goes out to the margins, prioritizing the poor and sharing the gospel with authenticity and mercy. The key teaching and priorities of this document was joyful evangelization, the gospel should be proclaimed with joy, enthusiasm and mercy, not as a burden or duty. Christians must reflect the joy of knowing Christ in every aspect of life and mission. Another key teaching in the document was a church that goes forth. The church must move from a posture of maintenance to mission. It must go out to the peripheries. It must go to the poor. The church must go to the marginalized. It must go to the wounded. It must go to the forgotten. Pope Francis would have said something like, I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it's been out on the street. That'd have been something Pope Francis—I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it's been on the street, which is exactly, if you look at Pope Francis' entire pontificate, that really—see, these documents help explain everything they do. Everyone wants to judge the actions without understanding the reason behind the actions because they won't read the actual documents. Pope Francis, in this document, critiqued ecclesial and structural obstacles. He called for pastoral conversion, less bureaucracy, and more responsiveness. He criticized clericalism, excessive centralization, and an oversynthesis on doctrinal rigidity. Now, that's where you could say, that kind of explains why Pope Francis said, and some of the things he said, where you'd be like, what in the name of bubble gum are you doing? That doesn't even fit with traditional Catholicism in some cases, but he kind of rejected doctrinal rigidity. You could argue he wanted to, and churches always, we always do this throughout church history, churches go to extremes. So sometimes people will so emphasize doctrinal rigidity, doctrinal strictness, that it forgets about mercy, and humility, and love, and forgiveness, and restoration. It's just like, doctrinal rigidity! Who cares about anything else? Some will so emphasize love, compassion, mercy, that they throw out doctrinal rigidity. And the church is always moving back between these extremes. He urged to listen to the voice of the people of God. Hey, the church should be listening to the people. Now, one could argue they should be listening to Scripture, but you get the idea. I could go through everything into the document, but you get a basic idea, all right? I think some of the quotes is from it, or certain lines from it, some things that would kind of be referenced in it. The document, the joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus, and the joy of the gospel is how it's translated into English, the name of the document. An evangelizer must look like someone who has just come back from a funeral, I'm sorry, an evangelizer must never look like someone who just came back from a funeral because you should be evangelizing out of joy and love. No to an economy of exclusion, no to the new idolatry of money, no to the financial system which rules rather than serves. So he's very against a lot of that. And yeah, we could go back through the entire document. But Pope Leo made a reference to this document. So let's go back. In his address to the College of the Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV wanted to show continuity with Vatican II and Pope Francis and reaffirm the themes of Evangelii Gaudium, all right? And some of those was the primacy of Christ, listening to the people of God, mercy, grace, popular piety, care for the poor, engagement with the world. All right. And so we just went through the entire document. I mean, I didn't get through everything here. I've got so much. All right. So. And so then Pope Pope Leo XIV came back with a call for prayer, commitment, and continuing the Church's mission, and then he prayed for a global flame of faith and love. Here's some of the things about the address. I'm going to try to wrap this up because we've tried to take the address apart. Those documents was the most important thing. We could try to break down everything he said in his address, but it's really those two documents that, if you understand those documents, you kind of understand where Pope Leo is going. So here's kind of an interpretation and analysis of everything Pope Leo XIV said. It's a pontificate framed by technology and justice. Those are the two things. By looking at Rerum Novarum, by linking that to artificial intelligence, Pope Leo XIV is signaling a bold continuity in Catholic social teaching, addressing the ethical challenges of automation, surveillance, labor displacement, and digital identity with moral clarity. He seeks to frame the church not as a bystander but as a guide." So if you want to understand kind of this address, hey guys, we've got to address this new technology We need to guide the discussion. We don't need to just be reactive. We need to be proactive. We need to look at it. I'm going to connect this with everything Rerum Novorum said and how Pope Leo XIII handled this. And what are the two major themes? We cannot forget the dignity of the person in the midst of a technological revolution, and we cannot forget the concepts of justice in the face of an ever-changing world. right? So it's a pontificate framed by technology and justice. It's rooted in Francis' vision. Pope Leo XIV emphasized on, again, focused on Evangelii Gaudium, and the idea shows that he intends to continue the trajectory of Pope Francis' pontificate, particularly in promoting listening, humility, and pastoral outreach, Pope Leo XIV obviously stressed humility and awareness. He wants to show humility in the face of this burden of being pope, and he wants to be aware of this burden. His reference to the yoke being beyond his strength conveyed genuine humility and realism. He echoed similar sentiments by Pope Benedict XVI and Francis at their beginnings. The spiritual tone he set is that he chose Elijah's gentle breeze. So Pope Leo desired to return to a contemplative encounter with God, countering a noisy, divided, distracted age. So, hey, well, the world right now is noisy. The world right now is divided. The world right now is distracted. We need to get back to a contemplative encounter with God, would be how Pope Leo XIV is going there. Now, what are some possible critiques? Potential ambiguity and AI engagement. He named AI. He named the digital revolution. He named it as urgent. which is all commendable, but his address offered no specific theological or ethical framework. How will the church engage with these forces? Is it simply to offer a general moral guidance or to aim some kind of a structural influence? was a lot of ambiguity. It sounded nice, and you can pull from it, okay, we got to focus on human dignity and justice, but it was never laid out in a practical way. So it sounds good. What do we do with that? I don't know. I don't know. Some may critique it as it offered too strong of a continuity with Francis because some people want him to break away from Francis. Some may critique his close alignment with Pope with Pope Francis as narrowing the scope for reform or correction. Hey, no, no, we don't want another Pope Francis. We need, now, but at the same time, it's been very, you know. In a sense, people are still mourning and remembering Pope Francis. So is it a time to do a massive breakaway? I don't know. Will this papacy correct any excesses or weakness of the Francis pontificate? I don't know. Is it going to just simply amplify some of those themes but break away from some of the weaknesses? I don't know. All right. And this idea of really trying to listen to the people of God, how is this going to work with the authority structure of the Catholic Church? Can you listen to the people of God? Well, I mean, you can listen to them to some level, but who's the authority? Who has the magistral authority? The Church. So how is that going to work? And it had a lack of direct theological depth. It was poetic. It was rich in symbolism. the address lacked any strong doctrinal precision or theological development. Now this may be unintentional for his first address, and so we will look for future clarity. Where would the future clarity show up? I will probably say in this first encyclical. So what are some of the takeaways? The church must engage the future with its past. The invocation of Pope Leo XIII signals that Catholic tradition can and must be marshaled to face new challenges, including AI, digital identity, and economic disruption. That's clearly the takeaway that he's going. The church has to engage the future, but we're going to engage the future with a tradition, which he referred to as a treasure, We're going to use that. We're going to use Pope Leo XIII's encyclical to address this new age. I think another lesson that you could take away from his address was that leadership begins with humility. Pope Leo XIV's tone of weakness, gratitude, and faith is contrasted with political and corporate leadership offering a different model rooted in the gospel. So, hey, he's going to take it from a humble, weak, thankful perspective, which goes against everything else. And we can at least say that we should all take that approach. Theological anchoring in modern crisis, the church is uniquely positioned to speak about human dignity in a world where technology increasingly commodifies persons. But that requires clear articulation of anthropology, theology, and ethics. The church does have that, hey, wait, people. In the midst of all of this technology, do we forget we're people, we're humans? Do we have eternal souls creating the image of God? Or do we just see people by a screen name and we dehumanize them? And we could have a long discussion about that. Unity and mourning can be a foundation. The unity shown in the wake of Pope Francis' death could be an opening for healing global and internal church divisions. I don't think it will. It's always good. Everyone's unified at the beginning. Oh, Pope Francis died. We all come together. We're going to mourn for him. Hey, hey, we got a new pope. We're all unified. Three weeks from now, he's trash! And then it'll be divided again. the call to be guided by stillness, not power, the image of the gentle breeze, some should, I think we could say, is somewhat of a warning over against identifying the church with a spectacle, with political might, or cultural influence. Instead of worrying about spectacle, political might, or cultural influence, the church needs to get back to the gentle breeze kind of idea. So, how can we summarize Pope Leo XIV's first address? I think we could say it's elegant. I think it was poetic. I think it was an elegant, poetic statement of continuity and cautious courage. I think he framed his pontificate as one poised between memory and mission. honoring tradition while responding to the technological and moral challenges of the present and the future. Now, what do we look forward to the coming months? The first encyclical will be released. And that's gonna reveal whether this address was simply rhetorical or this was the first sign, the first step and a deep substantial, let me state it that way. Yeah, let's go with substantial. Trying to choose my words careful here. Will this just be seen, when we get the first encyclical and we look back to this address to the College of the Cardinals, are we gonna see this as a first step and a deep substantial engagement Do I call it a great... With the current changes happening, I don't want to call it a crisis, but where the world is today. I don't know. I don't know how they're going to move forward. But here's what I want you to do. I want you to understand that in this address, those two documents become key. Rerum Novorum, and you can look up these encyclicals, or that's an encyclical, Rerum Novorum. And then the other one, I have to get here, down here, because I want to state it correctly. So there's Rerum Novorum. You definitely want to know that if you want to understand anything. And then the other is Po- the Evangelium Gaudium, okay? Gaudium, yeah, there we go. Evangelium Gaudium. And this, let's remember, is an apostolic exhortation. It's not an encyclical. Evangelium Gaudium. Now those two documents, that's what he refers to, that's what he points to. Maybe a good indication where his entire pontificate is going to. And there's much to be discussed. Now, what can you take away from it? Well, how are we in the non-Catholic world responding to the digital revolution? I don't think we've done very good. I think the church overall has been corrupted by the digital revolution. I don't think we've responded to it in anywhere close to the way we should have. Right? We fall into the same thing. We dehumanize our enemies, we call them names, as if we're, you know, we sound like we're, you know, sending off truth socials like President Trump does. All caps, dehumanizing, calling people names, insulting people, mocking people. That's not the model for Christians. We're not supposed to be internet trolls. We're not supposed to be keyboard warriors where we attack people and dehumanize them. We're supposed to see on the other side of that screen that there's a human being there created in the image of God, and it's easy to forget. When you're responding to someone, you're like, you're an idiot, you're a moron, and we forget that's a human being. Now, we may not like what they're doing, but how do we respond? I don't think the church has done very good in maintaining the dignity of humans. And what happened when justice What happened to the non-Catholic Church where justice, even, look, there's been many prominent people in the Protestant world saying that empathy is a sin. When did empathy, mercy, compassion, grace, justice, equality, caring for the stranger, Restoration, restore, forgive. When did these concepts become like, you're a liberal? And there's been some examples of this, where people went out on the street to talk to professing Christians or to like a conference somewhere, and said, well, what about this concept? And what about this concept? And they'll be like, that's liberal, that's woke, that's Democrat. And it'd be like, that's actually the words of Jesus? I don't know, that's actually Leviticus about caring for the stranger, caring for the immigrant. doing this, not harvesting certain things that they could come and take from it, feeding the poor, visiting the people in prison, taking care of the widow. That's socialism. And it's like, what happened to the church? So the church, we can take from this. address by Pope Leo XIV, and we can do this. In the Protestant world, if I was to address the College of Cardinals, which we don't have in the Protestant world, but if I was to address the Protestant world, we have allowed ourselves to dehumanize human beings because of the digital revolution, and we've allowed ourselves to be so politically hijacked that we now see things through a political lens and not a biblical and theological one. We face the very same challenges. Thanks for listening. God bless.