The right Pope for the right time

I finished last week’s column with a brief mention of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on the theme of AI. Subsequently the document was well noted and received in the media.

On Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1) Tuesday of last week, I liked Audrey Carville’s introduction on the Pope’s call for the ‘disarming’ of AI and its use for the common good. Massimo Faggioli, professor of ecclesiology at the Loyola Institute in Trinity College Dublin, said people were listening to the Pope and that what he was saying wasn’t just for Catholics, or even Christians in general, but a broadly humanistic argument addressed to all. Yes, AI combined with medicine could lead to longer healthier lives which would be good, but there were dangers in trying to make humanity more perfect by technology – e.g. the implication that some lives would be seen as less worthy and an ideology, or even idolatry, that people could be saved by technology only, thus sidelining God and changing our expectations of what it is to be human. Audrey Carville raised a worrying point – that though the US ‘tech bros’ were not disconnected from theology they were working on the idea that new revelation from God will come through AI! Further she suggested that what was afoot was an attempted “capture” of Rome by the Americans. Prof. Faggioli agreed but set it in the context of history – where over the centuries many states had tried to control the Vatican. Overall, I felt he was positive – suggesting that the Pope had a “very keen understanding” of what this was all about.

On The Last Word (Today FM, Friday) presenter Matt Cooper quoted, with approval I think, several parts of the encyclical, or “essay” as he called it. One of his guests, Dave Hanratty, a critic of AI, said he wasn’t religious, but this document might make him convert! Lise Hand likened it to the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII which spoke up for human dignity and workers’ rights during the industrial revolution. She reckoned that Leo XIV was “the right Pope for the right time”. She said Pope Leo was “sending up the bat signal” – calling for guardrails on AI.

The TV drama series Falling (Channel 4 Tues, Wed) finished this week. I praised it for the most part last week, after seeing 4 of the 6 episodes, but, after the last two, I’m not quite so enthusiastic. It was still absorbing to watch as it delved further into matters of faith, temptation, vocation, priesthood, but mainly love – of people and of God.  At the heart of the story is an attraction between a nun Sr Anna (Keely Hawes) and a priest Fr David (Paapa Essiedu). In these last 2 episodes Anna’s sour mother is a more three-dimensional, while the arrogant bishop is softened somewhat and could be said to have his priests’ interests at heart, and to have given good advice. At one stage he says a priest’s role is to bring people to God, not to play God. At other stages Fr David is cautioned against trying to fix everyone but not accept that he needs help himself.

This show features more Confession scenes than I’ve ever seen in a TV drama. In these last 2 episodes there’s even a moving scene where, through clever use of flashback, it almost seems that Fr David’s young self is confessing to his older self, but it’s really him remembering a confession from when he was young. The priest is kindly and encouraging. There’s another strange scene where a fellow priest Fr Francis (Adrian Scarborough), who is very happy in the priesthood, asks Fr David to hear his confession, but nothing is actually confessed – it seems a pretext to give him advice, and though he’s a likeable character I’m not sure his advice is the wisest.

Frequently we see people praying sincerely and expressing their love for God. The priest characters, and there are several, are presented positively. The show remains respectful of religion and humanity throughout, but it remains mostly intense and challenging. Sr Anna and Fr David still struggle with their vocations and temptations, but I’ll try to avoid spoilers, though it’s hard to review the show without doing that.

I wasn’t enamoured with the conclusion. After such a complex, nuanced and unpredictable story arc, I felt it went for too easy an option in the end.

Songs of Praise
BBC One, Sunday, June 7, 1.30pm
Sean Fletcher visits Cromer on the Norfolk coast to meet broadcaster Simon Thomas as he reflects on how love, loss and faith have shaped his life.

Sagrada Familia: Bridging Heaven and Earth
EWTN, Sunday, June 7, 2pm
Marking 100 years since architect Antoni Gaudí’s death, Pope Leo will inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ, the basilica’s highest point.

Film: THE MISSION
Film 4, Monday (night), June 8, 1.25am
(1986) Director Roland Joffé’s drama, with script by Robert Bolt, stars Robert De Niro as a repentant slave trader and Jeremy Irons as a dedicated Jesuit priest in 18th-century South America.