EWTN News Nightly reports that Father Brendan McGuire, a former Silicon Valley executive and pastor of St. Simon Parish in Los Altos, California, claims that Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas has opened the doors for deeper conversations between the Church and the tech industry regarding artificial intelligence. McGuire, who helped shape the ethical guidelines for Anthropic’s Claude AI system, asserts that tech companies are searching for “wisdom” and that the Church can offer it. He emphasizes the need for “real dialogue” on how AI will affect humanity, framing the issue as one of human flourishing rather than mere technological advancement.
The Illusion of Wisdom in the Age of Apostasy
Father Brendan McGuire’s assertion that tech companies are seeking “wisdom” from the Church is a profound irony, given that the post-conciliar institution he represents has long abandoned the true wisdom of Christ and His Church. The so-called “wisdom” offered by the conciliar sect is not the immutable truth of the Catholic faith but a malleable, modernist adaptation designed to appease the world. As St. Pius X warned in Pascendi Dominici gregis, Modernism is the “synthesis of all errors,” and its adherents seek to reconcile the Church with the world, even at the cost of doctrinal integrity. The very notion that the Church should engage in “dialogue” with tech companies—entities often driven by profit and secular ideology—betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the Church’s mission, which is to teach, govern, and sanctify, not to seek validation from the world.
The Heresy of Human Flourishing Without Christ
McGuire’s emphasis on “human flourishing” within the context of AI is a classic example of the modernist error condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors. Error 39 states: “The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits.” This is precisely the error inherent in the conciliar approach to AI: it places humanity at the center, divorced from its supernatural end. True human flourishing is only possible through submission to Christ the King and His Church, as Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas: “The peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ.” Without this foundation, any discussion of “flourishing” is mere naturalism, a denial of the supernatural order.
The Tower of Babel Rebuilt
Father McGuire’s use of the Tower of Babel metaphor is particularly telling. He claims that the encyclical warns against building AI for “our own purposes,” yet the entire conciliar project is itself a modernist Tower of Babel—an attempt to build a “Church” according to human designs, not divine revelation. The rebuilding of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, which McGuire cites as a positive example, was a restoration of the true worship of God under the Old Law. In contrast, the conciliar sect has dismantled the true worship of God, replacing the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with a Protestantized “memorial meal” and substituting the social reign of Christ the King with a false “dialogue” with the world. As Our Lord said: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The conciliar Church, however, has made its kingdom entirely of this world.
The Myth of Ethical AI
The collaboration between the Vatican and tech companies like Anthropic is a dangerous illusion. The so-called “ethical guidelines” for AI, such as the 23,000-word “Constitution” for Claude, are not rooted in the eternal law of God but in the shifting sands of human opinion. As Pope Leo XIII taught in Immortale Dei, the only true foundation for society is the recognition of God’s sovereignty and the authority of the Church. Any “ethics” that does not begin with this premise is doomed to failure. Moreover, the involvement of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education—a product of the conciliar revolution—ensures that any “guidance” offered will be tainted by modernist errors such as religious liberty, ecumenism, and the democratization of the Church.
The Closing Window of Apostasy
McGuire’s claim that “the window is closing” for meaningful dialogue on AI is a tacit admission that the conciliar Church has already lost its prophetic voice. The true Church, which endures in the faithful who profess the integral Catholic faith, has always taught that the only solution to the crises of humanity is a return to Christ the King and His Church. As Pope Pius XI declared: “If men were ever to recognize Christ’s royal authority over themselves, both privately and publicly, then unheard-of blessings would flow upon the whole society.” The conciliar sect, however, offers only a false “dialogue” with the world, a dialogue that leads not to salvation but to further apostasy.
Conclusion: The Only True Wisdom
The only true wisdom for humanity, including the development of AI, is found in the unchanging teaching of the Catholic Church. As St. Paul wrote: “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). The conciliar Church, having rejected this wisdom, can offer nothing but empty words and worldly compromises. The faithful must reject the false “dialogue” of the conciliar sect and return to the true Church, which alone possesses the fullness of truth and the means of salvation. As Our Lord warned: “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). The light of the conciliar Church is darkness, and its “wisdom” is folly.
Source:
Magnifica Humanitas seen deepening Church-tech ties, former Silicon Valley exec says (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 02.06.2026