Rooted in Scripture and Sacred Tradition, Catholic social teaching offers timeless guidance for navigating modern challenges like artificial intelligence, gender ideology and the ‘New Apostolic Age.’
Briefly
- Continuity of vision: By taking the name Leo XIV, the new pope signaled his intent to extend the legacy of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, applying Catholic social teaching to the digital revolution and the ethical questions raised by artificial intelligence.
- The four pillars in action: Human dignity, the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity remain a balanced framework for addressing today’s crises, from economic inequality to technological overreach.
- A call to witness: As society grows increasingly indifferent or hostile to the faith, Catholic social teaching points Catholics toward heroic engagement in public life, reminding them that “these times call for saints.
In an age of artificial intelligence, gender redefinition and the promise of human enhancement through technology, Catholics might be forgiven for asking:
What compass still points north?
For over 130 years, Catholic social teaching has served as just such a compass. Its principles, grounded in both Scripture and natural law, chart a course through political, cultural and moral turmoil.
“Catholic social teaching is super relevant today,” said Word on Fire founder Bishop Robert Barron, whose major seminarians from the Diocese of Winona-Rochester attend The Saint Paul Seminary, “because of its basic principles. It’s grounded in a sense of the dignity of the individual person.
“Catholic social teaching is predicated on the assumption that we are naturally, through creation, connected to each other … the good of someone at the lower level of society relates to higher levels and vice versa.”
“Catholic social teaching is super relevant today because of its basic principles. It’s grounded in a sense of the dignity of the individual person. Catholic social teaching is predicated on the assumption that we are naturally, through creation, connected to each other … the good of someone at the lower level of society relates to higher levels and vice versa.” – Bishop Robert Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester
Far from being a niche concern for theologians or policymakers, Catholic social teaching is increasingly recognized as a way for ordinary Catholics to navigate life in a rapidly changing society. And for a Church entering what many call a “New Apostolic Age,” the framework of Catholic social thought may be one of its most important tools for mission.
At the same time, Catholics must remember that the challenges discussed here (modern economics, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, gender ideology and the mental health crisis) are not the only urgent threats. The evils of abortion, attacks on the family, war and economic exploitation remain ever-present and demand equal attention. For the sake of illustration, this article highlights novel and rising trends layered on top of ills that have plagued society for centuries, showing how Catholic social teaching equips the world to address both the perennial and the new.
A legacy from Leo XIII to Leo XIV
From the moment he chose his name, Pope Leo XIV signaled a deliberate reach toward the social magisterium of Leo XIII. As Leo XIV explained in addressing the College of Cardinals shortly after his election:
“Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV,” the pontiff said in May. “There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great Industrial Revolution. In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”
A parallelogram of forces
The four “permanent principles” of Catholic social teaching are human dignity, the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity. They serve as both a moral grammar and a pastoral guide.
Msgr. Martin Schlag, spiritual director at The Saint Paul Seminary and endowed chair for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas, describes these as a “parallelogram of forces” that must be held in balance.
- Human dignity, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, comes from everyone being created “in the image and likeness of God,” and it is inherent, inalienable and equal in every person. (CCC 1700) Therefore, “you must never use another person as a mere means,” Schlag explains.
- The common good recognizes that “we create our life in relationships,” according to Schlag. The Catechism calls the common good “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” (CCC 1906)
- Solidarity is “firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good. That is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all,” per the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (193) issued in 2004 at the request of St. John Paul II. “We’re in this together,” Schlag says.
- And subsidiarity, Schlag says, “prevents us from being free riders. We shouldn’t live at the expense of others.” Subsidiarity means decisions should be made at the lowest competent level, with higher authorities supporting rather than usurping smaller communities. (CCC 1883, 1885)
The son of a diplomat, born in New York and raised in Vienna, Austria, Schlag has spent most of his priestly ministry studying, speaking on and teaching Catholic social theory around the world. He’ll soon release a book called Power, Money and God: Catholic Social Thought from Leo XIII to Leo XIV and teaches a course at St. Thomas by the same name.
The principles of Catholic social teaching, Schlag says, are not abstractions. They are deeply rooted in the Gospel and have been articulated formally since Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum in 1891, which responded to the upheavals of the Industrial Revolution by defending the rights of workers, the legitimacy of private property and the dignity of labor.
From the steam engine to the search engine
That 19th-century debate echoes today. Schlag draws a direct line from the industrial crisis of Leo XIII’s era to the technological challenges of our own.
Then, it was steam engines and factories; now, it’s the rise of AI, machine learning and digital surveillance.
The core question remains: what does it mean to be human in a world increasingly organized by systems of production?
“The scandal isn’t inequality per se,” Schlag warns, “but destitution amid superabundance.”
Today’s economy, he argues, must answer whether it includes the poor, or simply leaves them behind in a wave of automation and datafication. This is a test of solidarity: Will technology enrich only a few, or will it be harnessed for the good of all?
“Labor takes precedence over capital,” said Schlag, who presented the most recent Saint Paul Seminary Archbishop John Ireland Lecture on this very topic in September. “Without it, there’s no capital. But labor also needs capital to work efficiently.”
Subsidiarity, too, applies here. Catholic teaching warns against concentrating economic power in monopolies or centralized platforms that strip local communities of initiative. Parishes and dioceses are thus called to promote community-based training programs and digital inclusion efforts so technology strengthens, rather than replaces, human labor.
In this way, economic and technological life must serve human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity and the common good together.
Can intelligence even be artificial?
Dr. Brandon Wanless, assistant professor of dogmatic theology at The Saint Paul Seminary, sees the rise of AI as both an opportunity and a danger.
“I think that’s one of the first things is how can we upfront make sure that it’s not used for ill, right?” Wanless said. “Another dimension is a certain awareness of personhood. And I think that’s a big thing … because basically what AI does is it imitates how humans operate. And that’s part of why we call it ‘artificial intelligence’ is that it seems to be exactly how humans work because we’ve designed it to be that way, right?
“So that’s a key dimension is starting to ask questions about dignity and questions about personhood, autonomy and freedom, etc.”
There are few simple answers to such complex questions. But the Church has already begun tackling them with documents like Antiqua et Nova: Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence, which the Vatican Dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith and Culture and Education released in January 2025.
Antiqua et Nova:
- Distinguishes machine “intelligence” from human intelligence: AI performs tasks via statistical computation, while human intellect is embodied, relational, ordered to truth and moral freedom, and cannot be reduced to functions.
- States that, because persons possess inherent dignity as images of God, AI must remain a product and instrument of human intelligence, never a substitute for human judgment, moral agency, empathy or responsibility.
- Posits that ethical governance is essential: humans must retain accountability, transparency and control over AI’s goals and uses, directing it to the common good and safeguarding rights, privacy and justice.
- Highlights concrete arenas (society, labor, healthcare, education, media, environment, warfare) where AI can serve human flourishing or harm it, urging policies and practices that protect the vulnerable and prevent manipulation, inequity and dehumanization.
- Says that, beyond technique, humanity needs “wisdom of heart” so technological progress advances integral human development, solidarity, care for our common home and communion with God.
“Pope St. Paul VI said ‘the Church is an expert in humanity.’ Part of that’s just from paying a lot of attention over many years to what it means to be human and the moral life and those questions. But honestly, the biggest part of it is we have the revelation through Jesus Christ, through the Scriptures, of what is a human, what are we made for, what is our dignity and value, where does it come from and, as the Second Vatican Council described, ‘Christ came not only to reveal God to man, but man to himself.’” – Dr. Brandon Wanless, assistant professor of dogmatic theology, The Saint Paul Seminary
Here again, the four pillars apply:
- Human dignity is threatened when people are reduced to data points by algorithms.
- Solidarity is tested when access to AI widens inequality rather than narrows it.
- Subsidiarity warns against concentrating power in a few global tech firms.
- The common good demands that AI serve human flourishing, not profit alone.
“Pope St. Paul VI said ‘the Church is an expert in humanity,’” Wanless said. “Part of that’s just from paying a lot of attention over many years to what it means to be human and the moral life and those questions. But honestly, the biggest part of it is we have the revelation through Jesus Christ, through the Scriptures, of what is a human, what are we made for, what is our dignity and value, where does it come from and, as the Second Vatican Council described, ‘Christ came not only to reveal God to man, but man to himself.’”
The temptation to rewrite nature
The rise of AI has begun to highlight even more radical ambitions for humanity, chief among them “transhumanism.” Coined by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley in 1957 but tracing its roots to the Enlightenment, transhumanism is defined by Oxford Languages as “the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology.”
Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a neuroscientist and senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, discussed this topic and other bioethical hot-button issues at The Saint Paul Seminary Institute for Ongoing Clergy Formation’s Fall Clergy Study Day on Oct. 15. In his talks and writings, Pacholczyk describes trans-humanism as a false road to salvation, a technological attempt to transcend our limits without grace.
“Catholics cannot accept a vision of man which presupposes an outright ‘unacceptability’ of his basic human nature,” he told Catholic News Agency, “nor a vision that labors to replace it with an alternate bodily structure that is engineered to be ‘post-human.”
Such ambitions undermine human dignity, treating the body as disposable. They fracture solidarity, privileging those wealthy enough to afford enhancements. They contradict subsidiarity, concentrating power in centralized corporate or state hands. And they ignore the common good, promising superiority for a few rather than flourishing for all.
“Even if our nature were to be radically re-engineered,” Pacholczyk says, “our innermost self would retain fundamental shards of incompleteness.”
True transcendence, he insists, “is achieved through repentance, discipleship, self-denial, committed love and generous self-giving.”
Gender ideology and the integrity of the body
Pacholczyk is equally clear-eyed about the rise of gender ideology, which he sees as severing the unity of body and soul.
The idea that someone can be “born in the wrong body,” he writes, is a “mistaken and subjective impression.” Medical and surgical attempts to “correct” this, he argues, are morally unacceptable, especially when they involve mutilation of healthy organs.
But his response is not condemnation; it’s accompaniment. Affirm the person in Christ, he says, but not all their choices.
Pacholczyk calls for listening, patience and compassion without compromising truth. This has an impact both on the individual and on society as a whole.
“Instead of propping up a fictitious and harmful understanding of human masculinity and femininity, we owe it to those struggling with gender dysphoria to address compassionately their underlying mental health concerns,” Pacholczyk writes. “Through evidence-based therapies, including appropriate psychiatric and interpersonal outreach and counseling, we hope to bring healing, preserve family unity and help sustain important, lifelong friendships.”
On a macro level, policies that impose one-size-fits-all mandates ignore subsidiarity, while communities that discern locally and pastorally embody it. And only when society protects bodily integrity as a gift from God does it safeguard the common good.
Mental health and moral clarity
Licensed Catholic counselor Christian Wolfe, who works with seminarians and priests via The Saint Paul Seminary, has watched as a mental health crisis envelops the United States and much of the Western World. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness.
Wolfe, who previously worked in technology and advertising with clients like Apple and Microsoft, has seen firsthand how the digital revolution has shifted from promise to peril.
“[Technology] has become a divider versus a uniter,” he says, adding that the phrase “social media” itself is “an oxymoron.”
Wolfe traces a troubling correlation: the convergence of broadband internet and smartphones around 2010 with “a significant increase in anxiety, suicidal ideation and depression.” He notes that these platforms are engineered to exploit the same pleasure centers as food and sex: “It is playing on that same pleasure center to keep me engaged in it … how it cues at the end to keep us into binge watching.”
His conclusion is stark: “One has to exercise an extraordinary amount of caution … it’s not a particularly safe place to be.”
The consequences for youth are acute. Wolfe urges parents: “If there is any chance at all, never never, never, never give your child a smartphone … and if the child does need a smartphone, it needs to be locked down hugely.”
Wolfe also identifies pornography as one of the “big challenges” facing today’s culture. Since the arrival of smartphones, its availability has become “so prolific” that exposure among children is nearly inevitable.
According to a Common Sense Media survey, over 70 percent of teens report seeing pornography online at some point, some as early as age 11.
“It is an eyewatering thing to see people gain not only freedom … but relationships get mended.” – Christian Wolfe, Catholic counselor
The algorithms pushing it are “highly sophisticated and because there’s so much money, those kinds of things are worked into those algorithms, so that’s quite dangerous,” Wolfe said. The fallout includes “the destroying a lot of relationships; it really is a scourge”, leading to objectification, declining marriage and even confusion about identity: “who one is as a boy, as a girl, as a man, as a woman.”
The Church insists that mental illness never erases human dignity. Solidarity obliges Catholics to walk with those suffering in a “post-truth” world, offering parish networks of counseling and accompaniment. Subsidiarity urges local parishes to respond with concrete resources rather than waiting for distant policy. And the common good demands universal access to ethically sound mental health care.
For Wolfe, freedom from addiction and despair is possible: “It is an eyewatering thing to see people gain not only freedom … but relationships get mended.”
A ‘New Apostolic Age’
And it’s that possibility of healing and flourishing that the Church proposes even (and perhaps especially) during a time of turmoil and uncertainty.
Catholic social teaching must function in a missionary key. Pope Leo XIV has emphasized holiness as this teaching’s ultimate aim.
These times call for saints, he says, a shift from a Church of maintenance to a Church of witness. During his homily at the canonization of Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Gorgio Frassati on Sept. 7, Pope Leo XIV urged everyone, “especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces.”
“It’s a good time be a Christian: the real thing, the real deal.” – Msgr. Martin Schlag, Saint Paul Seminary spiritual director and University of St. Thomas endowed chair for Catholic social thought
“Society used to support life through laws and through social [standards] and so on, but that has fallen away,” said Schlag, the Catholic social thought expert from The Saint Paul Seminary and the University of St. Thomas. “We are more and more in times like the Roman Empire, not as bad, but still, we’re going upstream. That requires more heroism. Now, I think it’s more and more clear that being a Christian is a vocation to give witness and be heroic in small things but accept disadvantages or maybe being mocked, not understood.
“It’s a good time be a Christian: the real thing, the real deal.”
This diagnosis is confirmed by the widely read pastoral letter From Christendom to Apostolic Mission from the University of Mary, which observes:
“The surrounding culture is not simply neutral toward the faith but is often actively hostile or dismissive … The challenge is not just to hold our ground, but to evangelize, to propose anew the reality of Christ and his Church in a world that has largely forgotten them.”
For Schlag, this calls for action.
“Get involved,” he says. “The instinct is to withdraw into a ‘safe’ world, but it just gets worse.
“When we’re afraid, we tend to close like an oyster. We kind of bottle up or shut down, when we should actually get engaged. … So, get involved in your school. Get involved in your community. Get involved in your parish. You might think it’s nothing, but it is something. Not everyone can be a politician.”
Saints for our time
Catholic Social Teaching is not a policy checklist or ideological platform. It is, at its heart, a spiritual vision. It teaches that society begins in the soul and that structures serve persons, not the other way around.
In an age that seeks to redefine the human, Catholic Social Teaching reminds us of who we truly are: creatures made for communion, sacrifice and holiness.
The infinite that man longs for, Pacholczyk said, “is effected from above through grace, rather than through the mere machinations of human cleverness or willfulness.”