From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
August 20, 2026 (#121)
The Most Recent Papal Encyclical: Magnifica Humanitas
Part I: What is an Encyclical?
On May 15th of this year, Pope Leo XIV signed his first papal encyclical, which carries the Latin title, Magnifica humanitas (“Magnificent humanity,” in English). In doing so, he followed several papal traditions and at the same time reflected on new subject matter in the light of the Catholic faith. Over the course of centuries, popes have utilized a variety of ways in order to proclaim the faith. In our time, in addition to encyclicals, apostolic letters, and apostolic constitutions, among other written forms, the sermons and homilies proclaimed at liturgies and public addresses at a wide variety of audiences are quickly disseminated via text and video throughout the world. And in recent years, even what appeared to be spontaneous press conferences at the gates of Castel Gandolfo or on airplane flights have become vehicles of papal magisterium.
Encyclicals are held to be particularly authoritative letters from the Roman pontiff to the groups and individuals designated within a letter that is meant to be circulated among the addressees. In the modern era, Pope Benedict XIV is credited with establishing the modern form of encyclical, in 1740. Given the great length of more recent encyclicals, including the most recent one by Pope Leo, which has 245 paragraphs and more than 40,000 words, in five chapters, it might surprise some readers that many modern encyclicals consisted of only a few hundred words. Most encyclicals are entitled by Latin words that are used in the opening of the letter itself. But there are exceptions. In 1892, Pope Leo XIII wrote to the bishops, clergy, and Catholic people of France with the encyclical, Au milieu des sollicitudes. In fact, the entire encyclical was written in French rather than the customary Latin. And in 1937, Pius XII ordered that his encyclical, Mit brennender Sorge, written in German and condemning the racism of the Nazis, be read from every Catholic pulpit in the country on Palm Sunday of that year.
In 1891, Leo XIII released Rerum Novarum, which was directed to the bishops of the world, and providing papal magisterium, that is, authoritative teaching, on the rights and responsibilities of Labor and Capital in a world that had been transformed by the industrial revolution. Since then, various popes have written on these and related topics, thus developing a now 135-year tradition of papal social doctrine. Leo XIV continues in this line. The subtitle of his recent work is “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” He addresses his “heartfelt appeal to all the Catholic faithful, to all Christians and to all men and women of goodwill.” (par. 16)
With this humble entry, it is the intention of the Tar Heel disciple to begin a series of summaries of the five chapters of this rich document. It might be particularly helpful to do this because the length of the letter is daunting, thus reducing probable readership. But the topic is timely and important, and the tradition on which these reflections stand as well as new lines of thought in light of new social realities deserve to be better known.
The full text of the papal encyclical under consideration here can be found, in English, at the Vatican website:
https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html
The same document can also be purchased in paperback or hardback, and in either English or Spanish, at In His Name Bookstore. For example, see:
