Dear Listeners,
In this episode, we’re walking through Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, starting with an overview of the five chapters it contains and then delving into my thoughts on what this letter means from a queer liberation theology perspective.
On the surface, the document is a major development in Catholic Social Doctrine. It takes on artificial intelligence, labor, surveillance, global inequality, and modern warfare with a pretty direct moral framework centered on human dignity.
But much of what feels “new” here has actually been lived, named, and theorized for a long time, especially in liberation theology, queer theology, disability theology, and other traditions that have existed at the margins of the Church. And I can’t really separate my reading from my own experience here. As a transgender man, I know what it’s like to watch institutions fail to catch up to realities that people like me have already been living for years… sometimes in survival mode, sometimes in theological reflection, always without guaranteed recognition.
So there’s this strange double feeling throughout the encyclical. On one hand, something is clearly shifting. On the other hand, entire communities of people have already been thinking through these questions long before they became “official” concerns.
And that’s really what this episode is about from my perspective: holding the tension of a letter that makes real progress for an institution that has lagged behind developments in the field.
As always thanks for listening, and I would love to know your thoughts about this encyclical in the comments.
Warmly,
Max
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