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A Guide to Rerum Novarum Part Three – The protection of workers, unions and the duties of employers

In this final part of the encyclical, the treatment and protection of the working class is dealt with directly and at length.

A Guide to Rerum Novarum Part Two: The Church, the family, the state and the use of riches

We ended Part One of this guide to Rerum novarum with the encyclical’s reminder to the rich that they would have to answer to God if they were not generous with their riches. The focus of that first part was the staunch defence of the right to property. This part will look at the relationship between the state, the family and the Church and the responsibilities we have to the poor.

A guide to Rerum Novarum part one: the political context and the right to property

Historical context

Upon his election, Pope Leo XIV said that he was inspired to take the name “Leo” by Pope Leo XIII’s work on Catholic social teaching. The newly-elected pope especially mentioned Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, Rerum novarum. Pope Leo XIV related this to the current need to think about things afresh given the development of artificial intelligence (AI). This series of three blogs explores Rerum novarum. It is a radical and holistic call to orientate our whole lives towards God – including in the political, economic and social sectors. To try to distil it for its proposals, as many do, in the political, economic and social domains alone and to take it outside its religious context leaves it stripped of its essence.

Antiqua et Nova: Note on the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence – A Summary

This document was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dicastery for Culture and Education on 14^th January 2025. Below is a summary which follows the headings and structure of the original document.

Together for the Common Good talks now available as podcasts

In the run up to the election, our friends at Together for the Common Good have launched a new podcast series exploring the common good as a catalyst to spiritual and civic renewal.

Is the proposed change to assisted dying legislation really about denying choice? Looking afresh at the harm principle

‘harm principle’ the philosopher John Stuart

Esther Rantzen is one of a number of well-known and well-regarded celebrities who have publicly declared their support for a change in the law on assisted dying. When a celebrity makes a pronouncement, many people stop and take notice even if the celebrity is not making any new arguments. Celebrity is persuasive. Esther Rantzen says that she appreciates all the arguments against assisted dying. Nevertheless, she thinks that people should be given a choice about how and when they want to die. In particular, she wants to spare her family from the painful memories of a bad death. She observes that, after all, we give dogs a painless death. Given the current prohibition on assisted dying under English law she has decided that if her treatment for stage four lung cancer does not improve her condition she may just ‘buzz off to Zurich.’

When the AI tool has a name and the embryo a number

CHLOE is not only a popular girls name. CHLOE is also the name of a new AI-based decision support tool in use in a handful of fertility clinics. Developed by the Israeli company Fairtility, “Cultivating Human Life through Optimal Embryos” (CHLOE) has been promoted as a tool to, in the words of the company, help improve IVF outcomes by helping to determine the likelihood of an embryo becoming a viable pregnancy. CHLOE is used to monitor and analyse embryos so that embryologists can make ‘better decisions’ on which embryos to implant. The AI tool has been clinically tested on over 50,000 embryos and works by grading and giving a score to an embryo based on an algorithm. The AI tool has a name, CHLOE, the human being at his or her early stage has a number, is analysed, graded, and given a score for quality.

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