In Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Dante journeys through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, which culminates in a transcendent, and indescribable vision of God. In this symbolic vision, Dante perceives God as three, distinct, intersecting circles of light which represent the Most Holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As Dante gazes at the second circle (the Son), he sees a human face– the Face of Jesus Christ–the Word of God Incarnate. Before this great mystery of the Incarnation he finds himself speechless, but his will and desire are perfectly aligned with God’s infinite love; “the love that moves the sun and other stars,” which give life to the entire universe.

In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas,Pope Leo XIV directs us to “the love that moves the sun and other stars” in a very powerful way, by pointing to the Human Face of Jesus Christ. It is the very love of God–made manifest on the human Face of Jesus Christ –that gives meaning and “dignity inscribed in each of us by the Holy Spirit” to the life every human being, made in God’s image, on this earth. But, there are also dangers lurking in the algorithms of AI that humanity must become aware of, and forcefully reject by discerning good and evil. Two evils are named in Magnifica Humanitas #115: “Trans-humanism” and post-humanism.” And as an antidote to these evils, we are invited to contemplate the Face of Christ. Pope Leo writes:

“ I invite everyone to contemplate, in the Face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light on the era of AI. In Christ, we are called to cooperate in the work of creation, rather than be disinterested observers of technological processes that limit our freedom and responsibility. The dignity inscribed in each of us by the Holy Spirit can also be seen in our capacity to reflect critically, choose and love freely, and form authentic relationships. No computational system, however sospisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil. Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history. This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving. It is the mystery of “recapitulation”: the certainty that the Father has decreed to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth back to Christ, the one Head (cf. Eph 1:10). In this plan, nothing will be lost that is authentically human. Indeed, everything will be purified and reunited in the One, who gathers every fragment of life, every tear and every authentically human achievement, rescuing them from nothingness and delivering then, redeemed, to the Father.” ~ Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas #233