In this commentary, Fray Enrique Eguiarte, OAR, one of the foremost contemporary specialists in Saint Augustine, analyzes the profound Augustinian background present in Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. Drawing from explicit and implicit references to the Bishop of Hippo, the author demonstrates how central concepts of the Augustinian tradition—human dignity, truth, justice, peace, and unity—illuminate the contemporary debate on artificial intelligence, the digital world, and the future of humanity.
Babel or Jerusalem: The Great Decision of the Digital World
Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, consistently follows a distinctly Augustinian framework. From the images it proposes at the beginning of the document—the Tower of Babel and Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem—the main contents of the encyclical are summarized.
Thus, those who seek new modes of domination and exercise of power in technological and cybernetic elements, forgetting the dignity of the human being, are compared to the builders of the Tower of Babel. To them, the encyclical directs an exhortation and a call to rediscover not only the dignity of every human person, but also the necessity of living in truth. To this end, the Pope draws upon the essential principles of the Church’s social doctrine, not merely to comment on them, but to apply them to the use and enjoyment of contemporary digital media.
As the foundation of Leo XIV’s thought—and it could not be otherwise—the luminous figure of Saint Augustine appears. Four explicit and one implicit text from him are mentioned.
The first of these, and with evident logic when dealing with the dignity of the human being and their greatness, is the well-known passage from the Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (conf. 1,1).
This text admirably summarizes all that the Pontiff presents concerning human dignity. Indeed, as the Pope points out, reiterating the classical doctrine of the Church, the human being possesses dignity because they have been created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). Therefore, every person not only possesses dignity, but also an implicit and ontological greatness, which does not depend on their productivity or external valuation.
This greatness is inherent to their being, for they have been created in the image of God and carry within them a restless heart that impels them towards Him, being the only creature in the universe called to participate eternally in divine life.
Secondly, the Pope cites another text which, in a way, runs through the entire encyclical like a continuous bass line. This is the thought presented by Saint Augustine in The City of God, which became the foundation of this entire work and, at the same time, the center of Augustinian theology of history: “Two loves built two cities.”
Subsequently, the Bishop of Hippo explains what these two loves are: “the love of self to the contempt of God and the love of God to the contempt of self” (ciu. 14,28). This is the alternative facing every human being, according to which one of the two cities is built.
Again, as the Pope rightly points out at the beginning of the encyclical, it is necessary to choose between Babel and Jerusalem. For Saint Augustine, the city of this world is Babylon, whose name is etymologically related to Babel, for both mean—as Augustine himself recalls, alluding to Semitic languages—”confusion” (en. Ps. 136,1).
In contrast, the city of God can be spiritually identified with Jerusalem. That is why Saint Augustine emphasizes that Jerusalem can be exegetically interpreted as “vision of peace” (en. Ps. 136,1), the ultimate goal of humanity’s pilgrimage in this world.
Thus, the Church’s social doctrine helps ensure that the elements proper to artificial intelligence and the digital world can be guided and become useful tools for pilgrims journeying towards God, and not, on the contrary, obstacles that not only strip human beings of their dignity but ultimately become impediments to their authentic fulfillment.
Justice, Peace, and Human Dignity in the Thought of Saint Augustine
Subsequently, a text from the Enarratio in Psalmum 84 is cited, in which Saint Augustine comments on verse 84:11b (85:11b) of Psalm 84: “Justice and peace kiss.”
Saint Augustine comments:
“There is no one who does not desire to be at peace, but not all wish to practice justice. […] But you must practice justice, for peace and justice kiss, they are not in discord. And you, why are you not in agreement with justice? For example, justice tells you: do not steal, and you ignore it; do not commit adultery, and you turn a deaf ear; do not do to another what you do not want done to you; do not comment on others what you do not want commented on you. […] Do you want to find peace? Practice justice” (en. Ps. 84,12).
In the extensive passage included in the encyclical, the Bishop of Hippo points out that peace cannot exist without justice, insisting that both elements are inseparable. Where there is justice, the emergence of peace is necessarily fostered.
In his commentary on the psalm, Saint Augustine also introduces another fundamental element for the encyclical: the mystery of the Incarnation, although this second text was not used in the pontifical document.
Human nature enjoys an unsuspected dignity because the Son of God assumed flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It is precisely to this that Saint Augustine alludes shortly after the text cited by the Pope, when he comments on the verse: “Truth sprang out of the earth.”
The Bishop of Hippo interprets these words as a reference to the birth of Christ, for He is the Truth who truly became flesh in Mary’s womb, symbolized by the fertile earth (cf. en. Ps. 84,13).
Unity, Communion, and the Body of Christ in the Digital Age
A third quote is taken from Sermon 272, a very brief homily that Saint Augustine preached on an Easter Sunday to his faithful, especially to the neophytes or infants, as he liked to call them.
This is the text:
“What we see has a bodily aspect; what we understand, a spiritual fruit. Therefore, if you wish to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle who says to the faithful: You are the body of Christ and its members (1 Cor 12:27). Consequently, if you are the body of Christ and its members, the mystery that you yourselves are is placed on the Lord’s table: you receive the mystery that you are. To that which you are, you respond ‘Amen,’ and by responding (thus) you confirm it. You hear, then: ‘Body of Christ,’ and you respond: ‘Amen.’ Be a member of the body of Christ, so that your ‘Amen’ may correspond to the truth.”
In this brief but dense text, Saint Augustine emphasizes two elements that the Pope expressly reclaims: unity and the commitment to persevere in it, for we all form the Body of Christ, as well as holiness, given that this Body is holy.
Therefore, the faithful’s response, the “Amen,” acquires great relevance. This affirmation not only expresses faith in the real presence of the Body of Christ in the eucharistic species, but also the twofold commitment to work for the building of peace and to live holily as worthy members of that same Body.
The last quote from Saint Augustine is implicit, as the Pope reuses words spoken in his address to the Roman Curia on the occasion of the Christmas greeting on December 22, 2025, where he reiterated the Augustinian phrase chosen as his pontifical motto: In illo uno unum, that is, “in that one, let us all be one” (en. Ps. 127,3).
Here too appears the invitation to unity, common work, and the shared building of the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. United, like Nehemiah in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and not dispersed in the selfishness characteristic of Babel.
The Augustinian Contribution of Magnifica Humanitas
Thus, although the textual citations of Saint Augustine are not numerous, Augustinian thought permeates the entire encyclical and underpins its main lines: charity as the fundamental principle of the Church’s social doctrine; love and passion for truth; the dignity of the human being created in the image and likeness of God—an idea present in various Augustinian commentaries on the Book of Genesis—; the pursuit of justice; opposition to all forms of human exploitation; the rejection of war; love for peace; the value of formation and education; universal fraternity; and, finally, the eternal destiny of every human being.
