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Magnifica Humanitas: The Pope Writes Like the Machine He Fears

On 15 May 2026, Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas, an encyclical letter “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” The document runs roughly 35,000 words across five chapters and a conclusion. It positions itself as the 135th-anniversary successor to Leo XIII’s 1891 Rerum Novarum, recasting that founding labor encyclical for the age of machine intelligence. The framing image is biblical and Manichean. Humanity is presented with a choice between two ancient construction sites. One is the Tower of Babel, where collective effort produces dominance and dehumanization. The other is the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, where shared responsibility under God produces communion.

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Papa Francisco’s “To Do” List

Although it is always a possibility to become Pope and CEO of one of the world’s largest churches once one enters the Catholic priesthood, I can only imagine the enormity of the tasks that await Pope Francis I, who at the age of 76 and with only one lung is already at a considerable disadvantage compared to some of the younger and fitter Cardinals. I thought it might be interesting on the day of his inauguration to take a look at his “To Do” list.

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From the Outside Looking In: The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

As everyone will know by now Pope Benedict XVI resigned from office yesterday. This move in itself was unprecedented and broke a 600 year long taboo.  I had always understood that to be “called” to the highest office in the Roman Catholic Church was a job for life and that one could not just throw in the towel when one had enough.  So, in some ways, I applaud the man for his sense of realism and for recognising that he was no longer equipped for the job.  I know there are many Catholics out there who are having a hard time understanding his decision – it is like some of the fabric of their lives has been destroyed forever.

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Cathy and Her Catholic Hospital Sterilization: Ten Sentence Story #150

When Cathy crossed the threshold of her local Catholic Hospital with her latest child squirming from her birth canal, she could feel her heart beating in her fingertips and she was terrified and filled with shame.

She’d had enough children and she wanted to start enjoying sex without having to worry about the nefarious curse of her husband’s sperm and her incredibly fertile eggs over the following nine months.

Cathy knew it had to be done and she didn’t feel bad about coming to a hospital she tithed to as a good and faithful Catholic for the last decade or so; it was her turn for help now and she came to take her share home with her.

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Will Anne Rice Become the Antichrist?

When I was growing up, my father told me that there were three things that one should not discuss in mixed company: religion, politics, and sex. Perhaps Anne Rice’s parents did not tell her such a thing, because she is back in the media’s attention talking about how she feels about religion.

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The Diddling Priest Strikes Again

On July 16, 2007, we wrote about the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles having to pay $1.3 million dollars to each child molested by priests in the largest diocese in the USA.  508 victims were paid for their religious suffering.  If that wasn’t galling enough, we now learn about the disgraced Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who molested children over a 33 year career in the Church.  His specialty, as reported by the New York Times, was taking advantage of Deaf boys.

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A Million a Molestation: The Catholic Church in Ecstasy

Today, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in America, announced it will pay $660 million USD — $1.3 million USD per child abuse claim — to settle lawsuits filed by 508 victims.
For four years the lawsuit has dragged along the court system and, interesting enough, just two days before Cardinal Rogery Mahony — seen below — would have been required to testify under oath in court trial, the settlement was announced.

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Seeing Angels in Saint Patricks Cathedral

Is it possible to see Angels on earth? I believe it is — no matter what your faith or systems of beliefs hold — and I’ll tell you why. After John Cardinal O’Connor died of brain cancer in New York City in 2000, Janna and I found ourselves outside Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. We saw a snaking line of mourners outside the beautiful and towering French Gothic church at Madison and 50th-51st.

Saint Patricks Cathedral

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Summer Subway Underworld

When the heat soars and The Girls in Their Summer Dresses are on parade, the penises come out, hands start grabbing for flesh, and the whole world becomes hot and bothered!
A Recent New York Times article unmasked the ugly truth of the Summer subway underworld:

Women know the drill. Just as some men reflexively check to see if they have their wallets on a crowded train, women check their bodies.
Pull in your backside and your front. Wedge a large bag for protection between yourself and the nearest anonymous male rider, who might, just might, be planning something. Put on your fiercest face, and brace yourself for contact that seems too deliberate to be accidental, too prolonged to be random.

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