Vatican News portal reports on Fr. Brendan McGuire, a Silicon Valley “priest” and former engineer, who hails the encyclical *Magnifica humanitas* by the antipope Leo XIV as a “new impetus” for dialogue between the conciliar structures and Big Tech. McGuire, a self-proclaimed confessor and friend to tech executives like Anthropic’s co-founder Chris Olah, frames this engagement as a moral imperative, warning that “silence would be betrayal” and that the Church must “use its voice” to dialogue even with those “perceived as enemies.” He envisions “wisdom circles” where technologists and churchmen collaborate, dismissing concerns about “social washing” and insisting that “the greatest risk is to do absolutely nothing.” This article lays bare the neo-church’s capitulation to the spirit of the world, mistaking collaboration with the architects of digital tyranny for prophetic witness.
The Idol of Dialogue: When the Church Seeks Wisdom from the World
The very premise of Fr. McGuire’s project reveals a fundamental inversion of Catholic order. He speaks of a “shared search for wisdom” between the Church and Silicon Valley, as if divine revelation were insufficient and the technocrats of California held keys to understanding the human condition. This is not wisdom but folly. True wisdom is not found in “listening sessions” with CEOs but in the unchanging deposit of faith, handed down by Christ to His Apostles and guarded by the Magisterium until the advent of the conciliar revolution.
St. Pius X, in *Lamentabili sane exitu*, condemned the modernist error that “the Church listening cooperates in such a way with the Church teaching in defining truths of faith, that the Church teaching should only approve the common opinions of the Church listening” (*Lamentabili*, prop. 6). McGuire’s entire methodology—gathering feedback from tech executives, publishing handbooks with secular institutes, and seeking “mutual listening”—is a textbook application of this condemned principle. The Church does not learn from the world; she teaches it. As Pope Pius IX declared in the *Syllabus of Errors*, “Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil; it is law to itself, and suffices, by its natural force, to secure the welfare of men and of nations” (prop. 3). To place the Church’s mission at the feet of Silicon Valley’s disruptors is to deny her divine constitution.
The Prophetic Voice Silenced: No Condemnation of Digital Idolatry
What is most glaring in this “dialogue” is the absence of any prophetic condemnation of the evils inherent in Big Tech’s project. McGuire acknowledges fears about technology’s impact on work, children, and society, yet reduces these to mere “displacement, change, and transition.” He never once names the root sin: the idolatry of man’s creative power, the lust for total control, and the construction of a digital tower of Babel designed to usurp God’s sovereignty over creation.
Pope Pius XI, in *Quas Primas*, warned that “the more the sweetest Name of our Redeemer is omitted with unworthy silence in international gatherings and parliaments, the more loudly it must be confessed and the more urgently the rights of Christ the Lord’s royal dignity and authority must be recognized.” The encyclical *Magnifica humanitas*, far from being a prophetic document, is a capitulation. It offers no anathema against transhumanism, no condemnation of surveillance capitalism, no call for the submission of technological development to the moral law. Instead, it seeks a “seat at the table” with those who would remake man in their own image. This is not the voice of the Church but of the world, echoing the cry of the serpent: “You will be like God” (Gen 3:5).
The Myth of Neutral Technology and the Betrayal of the Poor
McGuire’s assertion that “technology has always brought displacement” is a counsel of despair, not faith. It accepts as inevitable what is, in fact, a choice to prioritize profit over people, efficiency over dignity. The Church’s social teaching, as articulated by Leo XIII in *Rerum Novarum* and Pius XI in *Quadragesimo Anno*, insists that economic and technological development must serve the common good, protect the weak, and respect the natural law. To speak of “displacement” without demanding justice for the displaced is to side with the oppressor.
Moreover, the article reveals the neo-church’s characteristic blindness to the spiritual roots of social evils. McGuire speaks of those “living on the margins of economic and social life” but never connects this marginalization to the sin of secularism, the rejection of Christ the King, or the worship of false gods. The true “margin” is not economic but spiritual: those outside the true Church, without sanctifying grace, are the truly marginalized. Yet the conciliar structures, by embracing religious liberty and indifferentism, have abandoned the only remedy: the conversion of souls and societies to the Social Reign of Christ the King.
“Wisdom Circles” or Circles of Apostasy?
The proposed “wisdom circles” are nothing new. They are the modernist version of the “biblical societies” and “clerico-liberal societies” condemned by Pius IX in the *Syllabus of Errors* (IV). Their purpose is not to evangelize but to legitimize, not to convert but to collaborate. When McGuire says, “They are building our future, with or without us,” he confesses the neo-church’s impotence. She has no future to offer, only a past to betray. The true Church, enduring in the faithful who profess the integral Catholic faith, does not need the approval of Anthropic or the blessing of Silicon Valley. Her mission is to preach Christ crucified, to administer the sacraments, and to form souls for eternity—not to sit at tables with those who would digitize the human soul.
Conclusion: The Urgency of Silence and the Treachery of Speech
McGuire invokes Martin Luther King Jr. to justify his dialogue, claiming “silence would be betrayal.” But the true betrayal is not silence before evil but speech that legitimizes it. The prophets of Israel did not hold “wisdom circles” with the priests of Baal; they confronted them. The martyrs did not seek “mutual listening” with the Roman emperors; they witnessed with their blood. The neo-church, in its desperate search for relevance, has confused the voice of the shepherd with the bleating of the flock.
Let the faithful reject this false dialogue. Let them cling to the unchanging truth that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10), not the approval of technocrats. The Church does not need a new impetus from Big Tech; she needs a return to the old paths, the immutable tradition that alone can save souls from the abyss of modern apostasy. As Pope Pius IX warned, “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (prop. 80, *Syllabus of Errors*). This is the very program of Leo XIV and his “priests” like McGuire. It is not the Church’s mission but her betrayal.
Source:
Silicon Valley priest: Encyclical gives new impetus to Church–Big Tech dialogue (vaticannews.va)
Date: 26.05.2026