Latest news with #RerumNovarum
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pope Leo's Childhood Home Faces Eminent Domain as He Relocates to a More Eminent Domain
"Every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own," wrote Pope Leo XIII, in his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, laying down the basics of Catholic social teaching. The plans of contemporary socialists to seize private property, Leo XIII denounced as "emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community." The last Pope Leo's defense of private property adds no small amount of irony to the small Chicago suburb of Dolton, Illinois' plan to honor the new American-born Pope Leo XIV by seizing his childhood home from its private owners. Yesterday, Chicago-area media reported that Dolton officials plan to use eminent domain to take the home where Leo XIV, formerly Robert Francis Prevost, was raised from its current private owners to create a publicly accessible historic site. At present, the owners are auctioning off the small, 1949-built home for a reserve price of $250,000. In a Tuesday letter to the auction house running the sale, Dolton attorney Burton Odelson cautioned buyers against purchasing the house. "Please inform any prospective buyers that their 'purchase' may only be temporary since the Village intends to begin the eminent domain process very shortly," reads Odelson's letter, per NBC Chicago. Odelson told Chicago's ABC7 that the village had initially tried to voluntarily purchase the home but had snagged on the sale price. "We've tried to negotiate with the owner. [He] wants too much money, so we will either negotiate with the auction house or, as the letter stated that I sent to the auction house, we will take it through eminent domain, which is our right as a village," Odelson said. One wonders how outrageous the owners' offered sale price was given its current auction price of $250,000. The fact that the home was once lived in by the current pope surely doesn't enable the owners to command that much of a sale premium on what is undeniably a quite modest dwelling. While a papal museum is certainly a lovely idea for the property, there's no reason the village can't pursue a voluntary sale. That would seem to be more in line with Leo XIII's defense of private property. It would also seem to be more in line with the current Leo XIV's view of the Church as an institution characterized by voluntarism and love. "The Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ. It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda, or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving as Jesus did," said Leo XIV in his first Sunday homily as pope. "[Saint] Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat," he added. Autocracy is certainly a powerful temptation. It's one that not even the Village of Dolton seems able to resist. The post Pope Leo's Childhood Home Faces Eminent Domain as He Relocates to a More Eminent Domain appeared first on
Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
What Will Pope Leo Say About Education?
Commentary When the white smoke cleared and the name 'Leo XIV' was announced, most commentators missed the point. They speculated about political balance, factionalism, and the American angle. But the real clue is the name. By choosing Leo, the new Pope placed himself in a part of Catholic tradition—notably represented by Pope Leo XIII—that insists the family, not the state, is the basic unit of society. In contrast to this, parents across the West have woken up to a chilling reality. Whether it's activist teachers pushing gender ideology in class, education bureaucrats enforcing secrecy around 'preferred pronouns,' or governments insisting they—not you—decide what's best for your child, the message is clear: Your family is no longer in charge. Schools used to help parents. Now, they try to replace them. How did we get here? Leo may tell us that it's not just bad policy. The culprit is bad philosophy, and both sides of the political spectrum are guilty. On the left, Progressives see children as clay to mold into the latest ideology. They think they can remake human nature itself—erase sex, family, and tradition—and build something 'better' in its place. That's not progress. That's a revival of ancient Gnosticism: the belief that salvation comes through secret knowledge and that the restrictions of the body, family, and tradition are prisons to escape. Related Stories 5/18/2025 5/8/2025 On the Libertarian right, the problem is different—but also dangerous. Libertarians don't attack families—they ignore their importance. Parents are treated as consumers. Schools become marketplaces of ideology, with no shared sense of truth, purpose, or virtue. The result is ancient Cynicism , denying the need for family, virtue, or belonging. Children grow up rootless, unformed, and ultimately defenseless against the louder voices of state and culture. Both ideologies deny the most fundamental truth: children are not products of the state or the market. They are persons—born into families, not institutions. Offering a powerful correction to both ideologies is one of the most significant documents in Catholic history: Leo XIII's legacy is bound up in Rerum Novarum as much as Oppenheimer's is with the nuclear bomb. By taking the name, the new Pope signals his intent to teach in the The heart of the document is encapsulated in one single sentence: 'The family, the 'society' of a man's house [is] a society very small, one must admit, but none the less a true society, and one older than any State.' This means the family comes before the government, not just in time, but in authority . Parents have natural rights—not rights granted by the state—to raise and educate their children. The state's role is to support families, not to control them. Later popes were just as clear. For Catholics, this is not a negotiable opinion. It's official Church teaching and speaks directly to today's battles over pronouns, sex education, religious schools, and parental consent. It's not just Catholics. In 1976, Western countries signed and ratified two treaties. The To say that this is what the new Pope is about is, of course, speculative. But it is well-founded speculation: The choice of name is an unmistakable signal. We can expect him to denounce current attempts to sever children from their families and remake them in the image of the bureaucratic state. And, in the style of Rerum Novarum , he will likely say that both progressive social engineers and libertarian relativists are complicit in eroding natural parental rights.. His solution, too, is likely to be drawn from Rerum Novarum . That solution is not simply 'school choice,' though that helps. The solution is to reassert the family's natural authority—to 'build a wall' around the family, so to speak. That means: Enshrining parental rights in law—especially in education. Refusing to fund institutions that undermine the family's moral authority. Supporting schools—public, private, and religious—that see the parent as the first teacher. Teaching our children that freedom is not about doing whatever you want— it's for pursuing what is good, in line with natural law. Ultimately, education isn't 'just' about test scores or credentials. It's about forming the soul. And no one—no bureaucrat, activist, or expert—has the right to do that in place of the parent. The culture war over education isn't just about policy—it's about the nature of man and the purpose of freedom. Pope Leo XIII saw this over a century ago, and Leo XIV is likely to see it even more clearly. And he will probably tell us what the Church has always known: A society that attacks the family, or ignores it, is building on sand. It's time we started building on rock. John Hilton-O'Brien is the Executive Director of Parents for Choice in Education, Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
New York Post
19-05-2025
- New York Post
Pope Leo XIV must guide church through dangers of AI
New Pope Leo XIV used one of his first public appearances to expound on a critical issue for our time: the dangers posed by artificial intelligence. Catholics familiar with the church's social teaching immediately made the connection to the last Pope Leo, whose encyclical 'Rerum Novarum' (Of New Things) provided a coherent, nonpolitical, thoroughly Catholic response to the social challenges presented by the industrial revolution. Leo XIII offered a response to radical economic and political ideologies, each of which denigrated the dignity of the human person. Simultaneously, the 19th-century Leo ushered in a revival of philosophical studies in the Catholic world, demonstrating that faith and reason are partners, not enemies. Advertisement The new pope chose the name Leo, in part, precisely because he believes the world is again in the middle of a major revolution, one caused by the rise of AI. I & robot Unlike the prior technological revolutions, AI poses more insidious, invisible threats hidden in unknowable algorithms that are, frankly, beyond the comprehension of most of us. AI is touted as ushering in the golden age of man. Yet a crucial element of this brave new algorithmic world is missing: us. Advertisement Like its predecessors, a main goal of the AI revolution is an increase in productivity. Where the industrial revolution physically denigrated humans through harsh working conditions or the elimination of traditional forms of labor leading to abject poverty, the AI revolution eliminates human beings altogether. You and I become nothing more than a series of data points assessed by impersonal and opaque algorithms used to manipulate our behavior. AI has already invaded our lives and is now busy changing not only our work and our world, but also our desires and our self-understanding. Some manipulations are subtle: Advertisements pop up while we consume social media. Advertisement Others are more sinister: Millions of innocent images of children are manipulated using AI to generate child pornography. The humanity The minds of children are being formed not by their parents or teachers, but by algorithmic formulas designed to capture and keep their attention, creating a neurological feedback loop that promotes addiction. These darker realities point toward the essence of Pope Leo XIV's true concerns. Algorithms that lack transparency are a danger to all humanity. Advertisement We must create safeguards against the authoritarian misuse of AI — mechanisms to prevent its exploitation for suppressing freedoms or undemocratically concentrating power. Biased and inconsistent AI systems perpetuate inequality and discrimination. In their drive to provide definitive answers, they strip away crucial nuances from complex societal questions. How might Pope Leo respond to these and other fears? He has already hinted at an answer: truth and freedom. AI challenges the fundamental truth of the uniqueness of every human being, turning us into commodities, just data points gathered from our spending habits and media consumption. We are created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, each one of us is endowed with inalienable dignity. This truth drives social moral questions like abortion, reproductive technologies and euthanasia — as well as fundamental questions of how we act and interact with each other. Advertisement Pope Leo's concerns about AI, therefore, are not technological, but relate to its impact on how we understand ourselves and how we treat one another. The misuse of AI poses serious threats to safeguarding human dignity. Algorithms use data collected from our actions to manipulate us into thinking and acting in ways that do not reflect our truest nature. Hand in hand with truth comes authentic freedom. For Christians, this idea comes from Christ himself: 'The truth will set you free.' In the modern world, freedom is often presented as autonomy and self-determination. Authentic human freedom is rooted in the truth of who we are: created beings with limitations. Advertisement We are made for community. We all need the help, love and support of those around us. Digital dignity To turn AI into a tool for the common good, this Leo, like the one before him, must stand up and name the challenges to truth and freedom that this new revolution presents, and offer Gospel-based guidance to the world. Algorithms need to be transparent, so they can't be used to manipulate users by distorting the truth. AI tools must be designed to augment human abilities, not to replace them. Advertisement We should develop international standards to prevent the use of AI for undemocratic purposes. And all this can and must be done in service to our shared human dignity. Just as his predecessor did, this Pope Leo must insist that faith be an equal partner with reason in the conversations about how to develop, use and govern AI. Fr. John Paul Kimes is associate professor of the practice at the University of Notre Dame Law School and a fellow in canon law at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture who studies the ethics of AI with the American Security Foundation.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV could influence the world economy
Numerous world leaders and more than 250,000 people will attend this Sunday's inauguration ceremony of Pope Leo XIV, the first US supreme pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church. The new Leonine era will begin, officially bringing to a close the pontificate of Pope Francis. Thanks to his choice of pontifical name and his mathematical and legal training, Pope Leo XIV has awakened hope and curiosity among the faithful and the more secular world about the influence the Catholic Church could exert on the economic world during his pontificate. For many observers and experts on Vatican affairs, Pope Leo XIV could bring doctrinal order to his predecessor Francis' outbursts against poverty, which resulted from social injustice and environmental devastation. As the Holy Father said in his first address to the College of Cardinals last Saturday, "I thought of taking the name of Leo XIV for several reasons, however, principally because of Pope Leo XIII, who, with his historic encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution," Pope Leo XIII propagated the encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. Historians regard it as the Church's first step into modernity. With Rerum Novarum, the Church called for workers' rights without resorting to the class struggle promoted by Marxist doctrine, but through the balance of fair wages and equal economic relations. Rerum Novarum laid the foundations of the social doctrine of the Church that inspired Catholic trade unionism, and some 30 years later, the creation of the Christian Democratic parties that contributed decisively to the civil and material reconstruction of Europe after World War II. For Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, banker and former president of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) the great Vatican financial institution, Pope Leo XIII was "a prophetic pope" because the debate on the preparation of the new encyclical, which had begun a few years earlier, conditioned the ideas of the economic powers of the Belle Époque, especially the young United States in full growth. "Pope Leo XIII questioned the concentrations of economic industrial power and was immediately attacked, but after six months the United States passed the Sherman Act on monopolies and elaborated the basis of antitrust agencies to regulate competition," Gotti Tedeschi told Euronews. The US administration passed the Sherman Act in 1890 to curb the power of cartels that had created a near-monopoly regime with serious social repercussions. "Today the Church offers to all its patrimony of social doctrine to respond to another industrial revolution and to developments in artificial intelligence that bring new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and work," the new Pope Leo XIV reminded the cardinals in his recent address. The European Union and the public authorities of our time are measured against the dominant positions of the large US technological companies, aka Big-Tech, while economic data show growing economic crises and imbalances between average incomes and the cost of living on opposite sides of the Atlantic. If the pontiff's words have clarified the question of a new social doctrine of the Church, it is still unclear how the new pope will launch the evangelising action necessary to persuade the leading economic and political players of the value of a new encyclical on the social duties of capital. Will the new pontiff have to confront the great oligarchs as the Church fathers did with pagan princes and rulers in the first centuries of Christianity? According to Gotti Tedeschi, "evangelisation in the world of finance that seems so indifferent or even needs to have certain values explained to it." "We need to reread Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate, the encyclical of globalisation and technological progress", Gotti Tedeschi said, drafted and amended during the debt crisis that shook Europe and the United States between 2008 and the early 2010s, the worst financial collapse since the Wall Street crash of 1929. Gotti Tedeschi co-authored Caritas in Veritate with Pope Benedict XVI. In this encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI emphasised the importance of defining the economy and its ultimate goals, with a profound revision of the development models imposed by globalisation and digitalisation. This work was continued and reinterpreted by Pope Francis, who, in addition to fighting economic injustice, also engaged with the topic of artificial intelligence. In 2024, he gave a speech at the G7 summit in Italy, saying, "Artificial intelligence is a product of human creative potential, a gift from God". He also spoke of "algoethics", the morality of the algorithm. "Pope Francis' priority on artificial intelligence is that technology be understood for its social impact, since it represents a form of power that redefines relations between people," Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan, a scholar of the ethics of technology and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, recently told Wired magazine. Father Benanti was considered to be Pope Francis' designated person on all AI matters, and is the only Italian member of the UN Committee on Artificial Intelligence, as well as chairperson of the Commission on Artificial Intelligence for Information of the Department for Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Pope Leo XIV is the first US pontiff in the history of the Church. His election in the Holy See has awakened hopes that the new pope can help fix the Vatican's strained finances by attracting new dollars. St Peter's obolus is historically the financial lung of the Catholic Church, representing the flow of money from all the world's alms. "Fifty per cent of St Peter's obolus traditionally came from the United States. From what I have read, St Peter's obolus has plummeted to about 50% in the last decade," Gotti Tedeschi said "What can (Pope Leo XIV) do? Set about revangelising and reaffirming the truths that influence the Catholic world. In six months, he will balance the budget," Ettore Gotti Tedeschi explained,* concluding that US Vice President JD Vance affirmed those truths and laid down his conditions in Munich last February, explaining, "reconfirm the values and we will be totally on your side." Pope Leo XIV seems to have sent messages that are, for the time being, both socially sensitive from an economic point of view and more traditional in terms of aesthetic or symbolic presence and the content of doctrinal values.
Euronews
18-05-2025
- Business
- Euronews
How will the Church of Leo XIV influence the world economy?
Numerous world leaders and more than 250,000 people will attend the inauguration ceremony of Pope Leo XIV, the first US Pope in the history of Catholicism, this Sunday. Thus will begin the new Leonine era that will officially bring to a close the pontificate of Pope Francis. Thanks to his choice of pontifical name and his mathematical and legal training, Pope Leo XIV has awakened hope and curiosity about the influences the Catholic Church could exert on the economic world during his pontificate, among the faithful but also in the more secular world. For many observers and experts on Vatican affairs, Leo XIV could bring doctrinal order to his predecessor Francis' outbursts against poverty, the result of social injustice and environmental devastation. As the Holy Father said in his first address to the College of Cardinals on Saturday 10 May: "I thought of taking the name of Leo XIV for several reasons, however, principally because of Pope Leo XIII, who, with his historic encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution," The encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things) was promulgated by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. It is regarded by historians as the Church's first step into modernity. With Rerum Novarum, the Church called for rights for workers without resorting to the class struggle promoted by Marxist doctrine, but through the balance of fair wages and equal economic relations. Rerum Novarum laid the foundations of the Social Doctrine of the Church that inspired Catholic trade unionism and some thirty years later the creation of the Christian Democratic parties that contributed decisively to the civil and material reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War. For Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, banker and former president of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) the great Vatican financial institution, Leo XIII was "a prophetic pope" because the debate on the preparation of the new encyclical, which had begun a few years earlier, conditioned the ideas of the economic powers of the Belle Époque, especially the young United States in full growth. Gotti Tedeschi adds: "Pope Leo XIII questioned the concentrations of economic industrial power and was immediately attacked (by the political and religious sectors that supported a nascent and unregulated capitalism) but after six months the United States passed the Sherman Act on monopolies and elaborated the basis of antitrust agencies to regulate competition". The Sherman Act was passed by the US administration in 1890 to curb the power of cartels that had created a near-monopoly regime with serious social repercussions. "Today the Church offers to all its patrimony of social doctrine to respond to another industrial revolution and to developments in artificial intelligence that bring new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and work," the new pope reminded the Cardinals in his recent address. The European Union and the public authorities of our time are measured against the dominant positions of the large American technological companies, the so-called Big-Tech, while economic data show growing economic crises and imbalances between average incomes and the cost of living on opposite sides of the Atlantic. If the question of a new Social Doctrine of the Church has been clarified by the words of the Pontiff himself, it is still unclear how the new Pope will launch the evangelising action necessary to persuade the main economic and political players of the value of the contents of a new encyclical on the social duties of capital. Will the new pontiff have to confront the great oligarchs as the Church Fathers did with pagan princes and rulers in the first centuries of Christianity? For Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, "evangelisation in the world of finance that seems so indifferent or even needs to have certain values explained to it. We need to reread Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate, the encyclical of globalisation and technological progress", drafted and amended during the debt crisis that shook Europe and the United States between 2008 and the early 2010s, the worst financial collapse since the Wall Street crash of 1929. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi co-authored Caritas in Veritate with Benedict XVI. Through this encyclical, Benedict XVI emphasised the importance of defining what the economy is and what its ultimate goals are with a profound revision of the development models imposed by globalisation and digitalisation. This work was continued and reinterpreted by Pope Francis, who in addition to his fighting against economic injustice also engaged in the study of Artificial Intelligence. In 2024, he gave a speech at the G7 Intergovernmental Forum in Italy where he said "artificial intelligence is a product of human creative potential, a gift from God". And he spoke of 'algoethics', the morality of the algorithm. "Pope Francis' priority on artificial intelligence is that technology be understood for its social impact, since it represents a form of power that redefines relations between people," Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan, a scholar of the Ethics of Technology and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, told Wired magazine a few months ago. Father Benanti was considered to be Pope Francis' contact person for AI and is the only Italian member of the United Nations' Committee on Artificial Intelligence, as well as chairman of the Commission on Artificial Intelligence for Information of the Department for Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Leo XIV is the first US Pope in the thousand-year history of the Church. In the Holy See, his election has awakened hopes that the new Pope can help fix the Vatican's strained finances by attracting new flows of dollars. St Peter's obolus is historically the financial lung of the Catholic Church, representing the flow of money from all the world's alms. "Fifty per cent of St Peter's obolus traditionally came from the United States. From what I have read, St Peter's obolus has plummeted to about 50 per cent in the last decade. What can Leo do? Set about revangelising and reaffirming the truths that influence the Catholic world. In six months he will balance the budget, says Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who concludes by saying that US Vice-President JD Vance affirmed those truths and laid down his conditions in Munich last February, saying 'reconfirm the values and we will be totally on your side'. Pope Leo XIV for the time being seems to have sent messages of a certain social sensibility from an economic point of view, and at the same time more traditional from the point of view of aesthetic or symbolic presence and the content of doctrinal values. *** In 2012, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was removed from the presidency of the IOR on charges of allegedly violating anti-money laundering laws. In 2014, the GIP of the Court of Rome ruled out Gotti Tedeschi's responsibility, dismissing the former Vatican banker stated that the judicial misadventure was linked to his attempts to make the Institute for Religious Works more transparent.***
