*Artificial intelligence must only be used to complement human intelligence rather than replacing it, as a replacement would enslave humanity and serve as a "substitute for God

**AI should not be seen as an artificial form of human intelligence but as a product of it.

The Holy See recently issued a doctrinal statement called Antiqua et Nova (The Old and the New) and reflection on the challenges posed by artificial intelligence and its use. It can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20250128_antiqua-et-nova_en.html Here are some main points:

The American computer scientist John McCarthy organized a summer workshop at Dartmouth University to explore the problem of “Artificial Intelligence,” which he defined as “that of making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were so behaving.” This workshop launched a research program focused on designing machines capable of performing tasks typically associated with the human intellect and intelligent behavior. In the case of humans, intelligence is a faculty that pertains to the person in his or her entirety, whereas in the context of AI, “intelligence” is understood in terms of what task it can perform often with the presumption that the activities characteristic of the human mind can be broken down into numbered steps that machines can perform. This point of view is exemplified by the “Turing Test,” which considers a machine “intelligent” if a person cannot distinguish its behavior from that of a human.

But here the term “behavior” refers only to the performance of specific intellectual tasks; it does not account for the full breadth of human experience, which includes abstraction, emotions, creativity, and the aesthetic, moral, and religious sensibilities. Nor does it encompass the full range of expressions characteristic of the human mind. Instead, in the case of AI, the “intelligence” of a system is evaluated based on its ability to produce appropriate responses—in this case, those associated with the human intellect—regardless of how those responses are generated. AI’s advanced features give it sophisticated abilities to perform tasks, but not the ability to think. This distinction is crucially important, as the way “intelligence” is defined inevitably shapes how we understand the relationship between human thought and this technology. To appreciate this, one must recall the richness of the philosophical tradition and Christian theology, which offer a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of intelligence—an understanding that is central to the Church’s teaching on the nature, dignity, and vocation of the human person.

Christian tradition teaches that the human person is a being consisting of both body and soul—deeply connected to this world and yet going beyond it. Intelligence is often understood through the complementary concepts of reason and intellect. Intellect refers to the intuitive grasp of the truth—that is, apprehending it with the “eyes” of the mind. Reason pertains to reasoning proper: the analytical process that leads to judgment. Together, intellect and reason form the two facets of the act of understanding “the proper operation of the human being as such. Describing the human person as a “rational” being does not reduce the person to a specific mode of thought; rather, it recognizes that the ability for intellectual understanding shapes and permeates all aspects of human activity.

Whether exercised well or poorly, this capacity is an intrinsic aspect of human nature. In this sense, the “term ‘rational’ encompasses all the capacities of the human person,” including those related to “knowing and understanding, as well as those of willing, loving, choosing, and desiring; it also includes all bodily functions closely related to these abilities. This comprehensive perspective underscores how, in the human person, created in the “image of God,” reason is put together in a way that raises, shapes, and transforms both the person’s will and actions. Human beings are not thinking machines.

A proper understanding of human intelligence, therefore, cannot be reduced to the mere acquisition of facts or the ability to perform specific tasks. Instead, it involves the person’s openness to the ultimate questions of life and reflects an orientation toward the True and the Good. As an expression of the divine image within the person, human intelligence has the ability to access the totality of being, contemplating existence in its fullness, which goes beyond what is measurable, and grasping the meaning of what has been understood. For believers, this capacity includes, in a particular way, the ability to grow in the knowledge of the mysteries of God by using reason to engage ever more profoundly with revealed truths (intellectus fidei). True intelligence is shaped by divine love, which “is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5). From this, it follows that human intelligence possesses an essential contemplative dimension, an unselfish openness to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, beyond any utilitarian purpose. Human intelligence is not primarily about completing functional tasks but about understanding and actively engaging with reality in all its dimensions.

Keep Pre-Lent!

One of the tragedies of the alteration of the Mass by Pope Paul VI in 1969 was the cutting and pasting process which Pope Benedict called a “manufactured product” never attempted in the history of the worship of the Church. Another of the tragedies of this process was removing Pre-Lent from the current liturgy but preserved in the traditional Mass. Please God, Pre-Lent will be restored to the Catholic Mass by a future Pope. It is preserved in English in the Anglican Rite approved by Pope Benedict for those Anglicans who have reconciled with the Catholic Church.

In all ancient Christian liturgies, one finds a period of preparation for the great fast of Lent, during which the faithful are informed of the arrival of this major season of the liturgical year, so that they can slowly begin the ascetical exercises that will accompany them until Easter. This preparatory period before Lent generally lasts for three weeks. In the Roman Rite, these three Sundays are called Septuagesima, Sexagesima(60 Days Before Easter) and Quinquagesima, (50 Days Before Easter)names which derive from a system used in antiquity, counting the periods of days within which each of these Sundays falls. These precede the first Sunday of Lent, which is called Quadragesima (40 Days Before Easter) in Latin.

We should still keep Pre-Lent as a spiritual practice of preparation even though in the current Mass the Alleluia is not “buried” until Ash Wednesday and Pre-Lent is no longer observed in the Missal.

The Middle Ages referred to the burial of the Alleluia - for as Adam sinned and died and was buried, so the heavenly song of original justice must be laid aside. Original justice was the state of innocence and harmony with God that the first man and woman had before sinning, (Some local ceremonies of old time involved writing Alleluia on parchment, and actually burying it!) At Easter, all that had been foreshadowed is accomplished: "freed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke, Jacob's sons and daughters" - by the new Moses, our Savior. He leads us through the waters of Baptism. With Him as Shepherd and Guide, we set forth for the Promised Land... This Pre-Lent begins 70 Days Before Easter (Septuagesima Sunday) and it involves the “burial of the Alleluia” until it rises at the Easter Vigil the greatest feast of the Church.

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