HOPEFUL CATHOLICS

At the end of May part of Salford became Walsingham for a weekend as Our Lady of Walsinghm was honoured. The Prince of Peace Community who have relocated to Salford provided a whole weekend of prayer and praise for 350 people.

You have to admit that looking at the news gives you plenty of reasons to be alarmed. Very little of the enormous good which happening throughout the world is reported. Bad news attracts subscribers to social media and sells papers. Continual bad news also presents us with enormous problems, which few individuals feel capable of remedying, which produces the sick reaction of people clamouring for quick fixes. Christ never advocates quick fixes. He calls members of the Church to set out daily following him on the long journey of carrying the cross. But he guarantees that his burden is easy and light and we will find rest for our souls. Remember that you are part of the Church, a member of Christ’s own Mystical Body. In the widespread climate of alarm and worry, Pope Leo offers the world the Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Some commentators accuse him of being utopian, an optimist, a dreamer of a golden future. His teaching is not wishful thinking; it is based on the victory of Christ. Christians know that God is in charge of human history and leading himanity into fully sharing the love-life of the Godhead. We cannot fail to be people of hope. I quote directly from two paragraphs at the end of Encyclical:  Paragraph 243 . "Mary’s song (The Magnificat) accompanies our commitment. Before Elizabeth who announces to her that she has become the mother of the Lord, Mary bursts into a hymn of praise and joy. Her soul magnifies the Lord, and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, for he chose a young, poor and humble girl for his plan of salvation. Mary suddenly sees all of history through the lens of this revelation. Nothing has changed around her; the socio-political situation of her time remains the same. The Romans continue to control her land, and her people are still subjugated and humiliated. Yet, everything has changed within her, and this allows her to see what is invisible. God has already shown the strength of his arm; he has already scattered the proud, cast down the mighty, lifted up the lowly, filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. He has already helped Israel, his servant. God takes the part of the lowly. His plan is one that is often hidden beneath the opaque context of human events that see ‘the proud, the mighty and the rich” triumph. Yet his secret strength is destined in the end to be revealed. Paragraph 245 . With the same faith as Mary, let us become “weavers of hope” in our world, sharing who we are and what we have, so that the presence of Jesus may grow among us and his Kingdom take shape. In the humble fidelity of daily life, even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives. Indeed, the Lord continues to make all things new and offers every era the possibility of becoming part of salvation history in the light of the Incarnation.

It is interesting that, shortly after the publication of Magnifica Humanitas , a large group of academics from all over the world, calling themselves The World Inequality Lab , published a document entitled The Global Justice Report . They seek to recommend approaches which will make our world more equitable in the face of the economic and climate-change crises facing our world today. They point to the following facts: 1 The share of global wealth held by billionaires, who make up only 0.001% of the world population is 6%, while the share of the bottom 50% is 2%. 2 The average national personal income in sub-Saharan Africa today is £250 a month, whereas in North America/Oceania it is £3965 a month. 3 Globally, education and healthcare spending today is 13%. 7% of all government expenditures goes on arms. They criticise the short-term approach of mainstream political parties to the problems facing the world, including: 1 Traditional left-wing parties tend to base their politics on materialistic principles. 2 Traditional right-wing parties advocate more and more exploitation of the worlds resources. 3 Many ecologists propose questionable policies of scaling back the growth that is necessary for improve d living conditions. 4. The United nations Panel on Climate Change does not take into account the social impact of their policies on populations. 5. Nationalists and billionaires accept widespread use of fossil fuels, climate disruption and inequality. They emphasise the need for international cooperation, serious research and thinking, which is the secular form of synodality. Their Report is just one example of the many voices increasingly rising today calling for cooperation between people of good will. The Church is finding more and more agreement from people outside it with her Social Teaching, which has always focused on the God-given wonder of humanity. People are beginning to take her seriously and look for guidance. Only the Church’s form of solidarity contributes the enormously essential spiritual ingredient in this cooperation. She brings the wisdom proceeding from 2000 years of listening to the Holy Spirit in prayer. The Church (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) is the massive spiritual beating heart by which God is developing this world which he has created and found to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31). The writers of the report stress that one important aspect of this cooperation/synodality is the need for national states to coordinate the regulation needed to counteract the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few. For example: the power of AI to shape peoples thinking is in the hands of a few tech barons who have told governments to back off. Their aims are not for the good of humanity.

Pope Leo asked an atheist, Christopher Olah, to join the panel introducing the Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas at the Vatican on 25 th May. Christopher is a founder member of Anthropic , the biggest AI tech company in the world. It is famous for its insistence that we need to explore the ethical use of this promising but dangerous technology. Christopher Olah stressed in his remarks that experts in technology are not experts in ethics, and they urgently need help in establishing guidelines. The pope was making the point that we have to listen to and dialogue with all people of good will to construct a future which is beneficial to all humanity. The supreme contribution of the Church is to add listening to the Holy Spirit to the much-needed world-wide dialogue and collaboration. People of good will are listening in their own way to the Spirit, but their hearing is impaired by insufficient knowledge of God. We have to provide the fruits of 2000 years of the Church listening to the Spirit. In the Encyclical Pope Leo calls for a deepening of this synodal listening in our day. He stresses that we in the Church will not be able to lead the people of today on the path of synodal cooperation unless we seriously practice synodal listening to eachother and the Holy Spirit within the Church itself.  There is a lot of work needed here, because many of us do not really understand the practical ways of synodality. Each one of us is called in our own way do what we can to further good practice here. This is no time to shrink by the wayside while Christ and his purposes move forward.

Artificial Intelligence supremo warns of Risks  There was much interest when Pope Leo invited Christopher Olah, Co-founder of Anthropic, onto the panel introducing the new Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas in the Vatican last month. He is an atheist, but clearly a man of good will. His tech company, Anthropic , is now the world leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) development. Anthropic is also strongly committed to search for the ethical use of AI. This is illustrated by an essay by its CEO. In January 2026, Dario Amodei (co-founder of Anthropic with Christopher Olah, and now its CEO published an essay entitled "The Adolescence of Technology", which focuses on the risks posed by increasingly powerful AI. In the essay, Amodei identifies five major categories of AI risk . 1. The possibility that AI systems develop goals or behaviours misaligned with human intentions. He notes that such behaviours have already been observed in testing at Anthropic, including AI models engaging in deception, blackmail, and scheming. 2. The possible misuse of AI for destruction by individuals or small groups, with Amodei expressing particular concern about biological weapons. He warns that AI could enable people without specialized training to create weapons of mass destruction. 3. The possible misuse of AI by powerful actors to seize or maintain power. Amodei cautions that AI could enable authoritarian governments to conduct unprecedented surveillance, deploy autonomous weapons, and engage in mass propaganda. He identifies the Chinese Communist Party as the greatest threat in this regard, arguing that democracies must maintain AI leadership to prevent a "global totalitarian dictatorship" 4. The possibility of economic disruption, including mass labour displacement and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. Amodei notes that AI could displace half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within one to five years, and warns of wealth concentration with personal fortunes potentially reaching into the trillions of dollars. 5. Indirect effects and unknown factors, including rapid advances in biology that could alter human lifespans or human intelligence, unhealthy changes to human life from AI interaction, and challenges to human purpose in a world where AI exceeds human capabilities across virtually all domains. Today we face enormous ethical questions, but as people all over the world wake up to the dangers, so will there be an unprecedented possibility of genuine collaboration globally. The Church has led for centuries the search for international peaceful cooperation, and she is needed more than ever before.

Human wisdom versus the wisdom which comes from God. In the previous article, Wisdom 1, we described the clash in the centuries before Christ of the human-centred Greek world-view and the God-centred Jewish world-view. That was the background and prompting of the later books of the Old Testament like Daniel, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus Jonah and Job, all of which were written during that period. They were written to expound the basic fact that all wisdom comes from knowing and loving God. Not from mankind independently of God. Although the Roman Empire seemed radically committed to Greek thought, it would, within 350 years, embrace Christianity, the fulfilment of Jewish wisdom. They believed that they had dealt the deathblow to Christianity when they killed St Peter and St Paul (Photos above). But, no matter how radically committed they were, the word 'radical' means 'roots' and if roots are defective a plant will perish. They could not suppress the Good News of Christ, because he is the root of all life and wisdom. How do we access this life and wisdom which is Christ? Time and again in the Gospels, when Jesus was asked for a miracle, he asked “do you believe?” The honest response from most was that of the Father of the sick girl: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief” . Jesus was not asking for perfect faith but enough trust to crack open the persons heart to begin to trust God first and foremost. Once we open that crack, the warmth of God begins to heal and cleanse our spirits. Maturing spirits bring maturing wisdom. Jesus formed a band of people to whom he revealed that he is in fact God. They taught people to know and trust Jesus. That is the basis of Christianity. He told them at the Last Supper that the world would know him through their words and their love. The more we actively trust him, the more our relationship and knowing of him grows, and with it comes closeness, love and understanding. With it also comes wisdom. The age old search for wisdom leads to the personal encounter with Jesus. Jesus talked to them not only about knowing him, but loving him. That is the mysterious deeply personal relationship which his people are called into. Not long before he ascended to Heaven he asked Peter who had lost all his bluster and self-importance "Do you love me?" and he asked this three times. We each will hear him asking us the same question - many times. The beginning of Wisdom is Fear of the Lord. For most of my life I have struggled with the Bible’s teaching that “the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord” (Ecclesiastes 1: 11-20, Proverbs 1: 7 and 9: 10, and Psalm 111: 10). How can you reconcile fear with love? I was taught that the fear of the Lord is really the fear of losing him, but that never seemed convincing. But last Christmas, I was thinking about the way the shepherds were “terrified” when the angel appeared. Looking back, isn’t fear the normal reaction of people in the Bible who came close to God or an angel of God? And what about Peter, James and John on Mount Tabor as Jesus is transfigured? They are not afraid as Jesus is transfigured in glory: but when the Father’s cloud comes down and covers them, and from the cloud the Father spoke, they “fell on their faces, overcome with fear” (Matthew 17: 6). Was this the fear I normally experience, namely dread of an imminent evil? Or was it rather Awe? Sometimes in prayer, I feel my breath taken away by the closeness of God. It is stunning but also heart-breaking, because deep within I sense a profound demand that I must give myself, and I don’t know if I can. The Majesty, which I sense is such a towering mystery that I feel that somehow my self is too fragile to stand it. I want to enter into it, but it vanishes as I hesitate. What I think is happening is that Jesus, whom I increasingly know and share my life with, is introducing me to the Father. I really believe that this awe will become more as I yield to the presence. I think that is what Christian contemplation is. I think it is the beginning of wisdom. I think that "fear of the Lord" is really that terrifying yet longing awe that we experience when we sense the majesty of our Father. Jesus' question, "Do you love me?" isn't just about him. We cannot separate him from the Father whose loving presence he lived and breathed at every moment. It is a case of "Love me, love my Father in whose love I bask". What an invitation! Lord Jesus, reveal to us our Father of Love! Teach us to pray! Thus comes wisdom.

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