[EWTN News] reports that a group of self‑styled “Catholic” moral theologians and ethicists filed an amicus curiae brief in federal court supporting Anthropic, an AI company refusing Pentagon demands to use its systems for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. The scholars, including Charles Camosy, Joseph Vukov, Brian Boyd, Brian Green, and “Fr.” Michael Baggot, argue that Church teaching upholds Anthropic’s stance on human dignity, subsidiarity, and just war. This brief, however, represents a radical departure from integral Catholic doctrine, reducing the Faith to a naturalistic ethical framework while omitting the Social Kingship of Christ, the supernatural ends of human society, and the absolute authority of the pre‑1958 Magisterium. The scholars’ reliance on post‑conciliar authorities and their silence on the necessity of the Catholic Church as the sole mediator of salvation expose a profound apostasy, characteristic of the conciliar sect’s synthesis of all errors.
Catholic Ethicists’ AI Brief: Modernist Naturalism Masquerading as Doctrine
Reduction of Catholic Social Teaching to Naturalistic Humanism
The brief grounds Anthropic’s refusal in “the Catholic tradition’s consistent emphasis that decisions affecting human life, freedom, and dignity must remain the responsibility of human actors.” This statement, while superficially plausible, strips Catholic social doctrine of its supernatural foundation. The pre‑conciliar Church taught that human dignity derives not from abstract autonomy but from being created in God’s image and redeemed by Christ. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas, “the kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men… He is the source of salvation for individuals and for the whole.” The ethicists’ focus on “human dignity” and “freedom” mirrors the naturalistic humanism condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (Error #58: “All the rectitude and excellence of morality ought to be placed in the accumulation and increase of riches by every possible means, and the gratification of pleasure”). Their argument for subsidiarity—that decentralized governance better respects context—reduces a Catholic principle to a mere administrative technique, ignoring that subsidiarity exists to serve the common good oriented toward eternal salvation. The Syllabus explicitly rejects the separation of Church and state (Error #55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church”), yet the brief accepts the modern nation‑state as a neutral arena where “human dignity” can be protected without reference to Christ’s reign. This omission is damning: silence on the Social Kingship of Christ is the hallmark of apostasy, as Pius XI warned that “when God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.”
The “Just War” Shell Game: Stripping Supernatural Ends
On autonomous weapons, the brief invokes the “just war” tradition, claiming that “human judgment must be employed” for proportionality and discrimination. Yet this presentation eviscerates the doctrine of its supernatural purpose. For the Church, war is just only when waged for a causa iusta—the defense of the Faith, protection of the Church, or restoration of Catholic social order—not merely for vague “human dignity.” The Catechism of the Council of Trent (pre‑1958) taught that the end of war must be the peace of Christ, subordinated to the spiritual good. The ethicists’ argument reduces “just war” to a technical exercise in risk assessment, echoing the Modernist error condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu (Proposition #58: “Truth changes with man, because it develops with him”). Their citation of the Vatican’s opposition to LAWS since 2013 is particularly egregious: the post‑conciliar “Vatican” has no authority to teach, as the See is vacant due to the manifest heresy of the usurpers (cf. Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice: “a manifest heretic… ceases to be Pope and head”). The brief thus appeals to a null magisterium while ignoring the unchanging teaching that legitimate authority must be Catholic and subordinate to the Church.
Silence on the Social Kingship of Christ: The Heresy of Omission
The most glaring omission is the complete absence of Christ’s Social Kingship. Pius XI’s Quas Primas—institution of the feast of Christ the King—declares that “the State must leave the same freedom to the members of Orders and Congregations” and that “rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” The encyclical condemns secularism as a “plague” that “began with the denial of Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations.” Yet the ethicists never mention that all human laws and institutions must be ordered to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Their framework accepts the modern secular state as a given, thereby endorsing the Syllabus Error #77: “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State.” This is a direct rejection of the Church’s teaching that “there is no power in us that is exempt from this reign” of Christ (Quas Primas). The brief’s silence on the First Commandment and the duty of states to recognize the Catholic Church as the sole path to salvation (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus) is a tacit approval of religious indifferentism, condemned by Pius IX (Error #16: “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation”).
Appealing to the Usurpers: The Invalid Magisterium of the Conciliar Sect
The brief cites Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi to warn that technological progress without ethical formation is “a threat for man and for the world.” This citation is worse than useless; it is a reference to a manifest heretic. According to the theological principle articulated by St. Robert Bellarmine and confirmed by Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code, a manifest heretic loses all ecclesiastical office ipso facto. The line of antipopes from John XXIII through the current usurper “Pope” Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) have all promulgated heresies, notably religious liberty (Dignitatis humanae) and collegiality, thereby vacating the See. Thus, Benedict XVI’s words have no magisterial weight. The ethicists’ reliance on such sources demonstrates their submission to the conciliar sect’s “paramasonic structure,” which Pius IX labeled the “synagogue of Satan” (Syllabus conclusion). Their brief thereby participates in the “disinformation strategy” described in the file on false Fatima apparitions: by using the language of “ethics” and “human dignity,” they advance the Modernist project of syncretizing Catholicism with secular liberalism.
Conclusion: A Fruit of the Conciliar Apostasy
The amicus brief is a symptom of the systemic apostasy diagnosed by St. Pius X: the “synthesis of all errors” that reduces Catholic doctrine to a “dogmaless Christianity” (Lamentabili Proposition #65). By ignoring the Social Kingship of Christ, the necessity of the Church for salvation, and the supernatural orientation of all human activity, the scholars preach a morality that is “not progress at all but a threat for man and for the world” (Spe Salvi, ironically cited). Their brief, filed in support of a commercial AI company, exemplifies the post‑conciliar Church’s descent into naturalism, where “ethical stands” are measured by compliance with secular norms rather than by fidelity to the unchanging Faith. True Catholic moral theology demands that all technology serve the worship of God and the expansion of Christ’s Kingdom—a reality the conciliar sect has utterly abandoned.
Source:
Catholic ethicists file amicus brief backing Anthropic in Pentagon dispute (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 18.03.2026