The Church and artificial intelligenc WT-DTE-WO-KS

Can the Church use artificial intelligence and function in a virtual world? This question can be answered within the framework of practical theology. For within the scope of its research is pastoral communication, which is directly concerned with the human being as a person open to communication with God and with others, and capable of forming individual-community relationships. Pastoral communication thus has a distinctly personal character and implies the establishment of interpersonal communication, the exchange of information and interaction.
Pastoral theology is also concerned with kairology. The name itself indicates the study of the signs of the times (cf. Mt 16:1-3). The object of study of kairology is above all the relationship between the Church and the world, which may be structured differently. The Church may keep these relations to a minimum in order to refrain from concretes with a ‘godless’ society. It can set itself the public goal of seeking out, stigmatising and combating the evil that is rife in it. In such a role, the Church will wage ‘holy war’ against society. There is a second extreme possibility, which is for the Church to draw closer to secular society to the point of seeking either to influence it or to govern it in the name of God. Pastoral theology points to a third possibility, according to which the Church, in line with her salvific mission complemented by extensive activity, can establish a relationship with society based on dialogue. In this case, the dialogue must be adapted to the abilities of those with whom it is spoken and to the circumstances, since there is a difference between dialogue with children and with adults; between dialogue with believers in Christ and with those who do not believe in him. However, the Church's dialogue with the world must first take into account the proper relationship between the sacred and the secular. Then it is necessary to take into account the increased, all-embracing progress (development) that has changed the life of contemporary human society and highlighted its pluralism. And finally, it is necessary to appreciate the maturity reached by modern man who, believer or not, under the influence of civilisation, has become capable of creative thinking, of holding a conversation, of entering into a serious dialogue.
Pastoral theology, meeting contemporary socio-cultural challenges, is constantly refining its own ecclesiology, whose task is to define the essence, purpose, tasks and ways of life and action of the Church in the current circumstances of history.[1] Within practical theology there is also the ecclesial theory and practice of the media (media theology), which belongs to pastoral communication in the broader sense. And it is from the perspective of communication that a new answer must be given to the fundamental question: what today is the overarching purpose of the life and activity of a Church whose members use artificial intelligence and live in the real and virtual worlds?
Before answering this question, it is necessary to turn to a brief description of the situation of the believer in the media world. ‘Our life today is very busy with the vision of the outside world. The means of communication have grown so large, have become so aggressive that they draw us in, that they detach and disconnect us from ourselves, depriving us of personal consciousness. Let us beware! We can move from the position of mere observers to that of critics, thinking people and judges. An attitude of thinking consciousness is extremely important for today's man if he wants to become a living human being and not a mere screen on which thousands of images are projected. If we Christians want to discover the signs of the times, an act of reflection is necessary for us because, as the Council teaches in the Constitution Gaudium et spes, explaining time, that is, the empirical-historical reality that surrounds and affects us, must be done in the light of the Gospel. The discovery of the signs of the times is a work of Christian consciousness. It arises from the juxtaposition of faith and life, but not by an artificial and superficial superimposition of a pious thought on our experiences, but rather by perceiving at what points these experiences of ours, because of their inner dynamism, because of their obscurity and sometimes because of their immorality, demand a ray of faith, an evangelical word that would define and redeem them. Or the discovery of the signs of the times occurs by realizing at what point and where they come out of themselves to meet the higher plans which we know to be Christian and divine plans, such as the search for unity, peace, justice. At what point does our possible action of charity or apostleship merge with the maturity of favourable circumstances indicating that the hour has come for the simultaneous development of the Kingdom of God in the human kingdom?’ (Paul VI 1974, 563).
Jesus called the Church to the salvation of men, which in practice means the realisation of the work of salvation and the making present of His Person. According to Christ's intention, in the Church people should be able to have real access to the means of salvation: sacrifice, the saving word and prayer. The salvific mission of the Church is thus to connect people with God in a real way. This is the vertical dimension of pastoral activity that the Church fulfils through its priestly and prophetic function.
The Church offers sacrifice, preaches the word and prays, i.e. celebrates the liturgy and implements various forms of popular piety. According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, it is the Eucharist that is ‘the source and at the same time the summit of the whole Christian life’ (Lumen Gentium 2002, 11). The Eucharist and the other sacraments contain the spiritual good of the Church because they make Christ present (Presbyterorum ordinis 2002, 5). The liturgical activity of the Church is therefore the ‘ascent’ of people to God.
In its prophetic function, the Church communicates and interprets Revelation, which contains the Truth of God. When Scripture is read in church, then Christ himself speaks (Sacrosanctum Concilium 2002, 7). The proclamation of the Word of God is, in its essence, the ‘descent’ of God to man.
The horizontal dimension, on the other hand, is present in all the Church's ministries and works of the apostolate, as well as in evangelisation and the various forms of extensive (complementary) activities that are carried out within the framework of the royal function: to serve is to reign (servire Deo regnare est).[2] Their aim is to build up the community, which consists in the connection between the concrete person and the community and between individuals. This activity can be called the new implantatio Ecclesiae,[3] which the Church carries out according to the principle: per visibilia ad invisibilia (through the visible to the invisible reality).
In the life and activity of the Church, then, there are two types of communication: 1) between man and God (ascending and descending communication) and 2) between people. Two basic questions then arise: 1) what role can the media play in the Church's activity of connecting man with God? 2) what role can artificial intelligence and the media play in man's communication with others or with the ecclesial community? From these questions arises a concrete problem: does communication in the virtual world meet the criteria of real communication and can the two types of communication be balanced?
The development of digital technologies shows that there will be an ever-increasing level of autonomy of artificial, generative intelligence, and therefore it can produce ‘unforeseen’ consequences in the real world. This can lead to conflict with human intelligence. In this sense, artificial intelligence is a kind of new kind of enhancement of the real world, and therefore requires constant human control and the acquisition of ever new digital skills. Artificial intelligence will be more and more present in the real world through ‘robots’ which can be called realised algorithms. They will be widely present in people's daily lives, where they will, as autonomous machines, enjoy limited freedom programmed by humans.
Artificial intelligence and its tools are among those technological inventions whose functioning and potential are impossible for most ordinary people to decipher. Modern humans are poorly acquainted with the ‘techniques of their operation’ and are therefore most likely to use intuitive yet increasingly autonomous media applications created with the help of artificial intelligence. The development of artificial intelligence arouses an interest that oscillates between enthusiasm and bewilderment, because on the one hand it effectively supports human (natural) intelligence, but at the same time competes with it.[4] For this reason, fundamental questions arise: what is human intelligence, what is its uniqueness and what will be the future of man in the age of artificial intelligence, in the virtual world?[5] In this article, answers to these questions will be formulated based on the results of applied theology research.
Applied theology at the service of humanity
Traditional pastoral, or practical, theology is a scientific reflection on the daily growth of the Church, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the context of history. Its object of study is the Church as a sign and living instrument of the salvation of Jesus Christ.[6] In pastoral theology, therefore, research focuses on the Church's pastoral ministry (proclamation of the word of God, sacraments, ministry of love), the implementation of which should take into account the current signs of the times.[7]
John Paul II, on the other hand, in his encyclical Redemptor hominis, wrote that it is man who is the way of the Church that leads at the base of all those paths that the Church should follow, because every man without exception has been redeemed by Christ, and with every man Christ is united in some way, even if man were unaware of it. [8] This anthropological perspective of the Church and its mission has created a place for applied theology, which focuses its research on man and his current situation in the world,[9] in which he lives his daily life and fulfils his vocation.[10] Applied theology seeks answers to fundamental questions about man and his existence, based on the revealed sources, the Magisterium and the results of interdisciplinary research.[11]
The human situation, with the emergence of the virtual world and the possibility of using artificial intelligence tools, has changed radically. This is why the argument of Romano Guardini, who advocated not rigidly opposing the ‘new’ in an attempt to ‘preserve a wonderful world that must perish anyway’, becomes useful in research carried out within applied theology. At the same time, however, he prophetically warned: ‘Our task is to creatively influence the process of change (...), maintaining an honest sensitivity to all that is destructive, inhuman about it’. (...) ‘Of course, we have technical, scientific and political tasks ahead of us, but these can only be solved from a human perspective. A new humanity must awaken, imbued with a greater depth of spirit, a new freedom and a new faith."[12]
In this anthropological perspective, it is easier to see that the understanding and expression of ecclesiastical doctrine in the study of applied theology is not treated as a closed system, devoid of a dynamic capable of giving rise to questions, doubts, discussions. [13] Indeed, believers raise questions not only about faith but also about everyday life, and therefore their struggles, dreams, and concerns have a hermeneutical value that cannot be ignored in applied theology.[14] In its research, the main source is Revelation and also the Magisterium of the Church; however, because of the human focus of its research, it is also the results of the inquiries of the secular sciences that are treated as equivalent ‘found sources’. The results of the research of applied theology can also be used in pastoral activity, in which not only theological principles but also the findings of the secular sciences, especially psychology and sociology, are to be taken into account, so that the faithful, too, can be led to a sound and more mature life of faith."[15]
Applied theology focuses on the personal dimension of the human person - each human person as a bodily-spiritual[16] and psychological unity,[17] is one and unique; he or she has a religious nature and is a social being. The concept of Catholic applied theology also includes the eschatological orientation of human life, which gives its existence its full meaning. The aim of applied theology is to acquire a practical knowledge of man that can be used to adequately address new (topical) problems concerning his dignity, his personal rights, and the values, relationships, purpose and meaning of life, but from the perspective of the world in which he lives every day.[18]
The Church bases its teaching about the world and man on Revelation and draws on the results of scientific reflection by theology.[19] This has enabled the Church to communicate the Magisterium, as ‘truth’ about the world and man, to the ‘outside’. Vatican II, on the other hand, opened up new possibilities for supplementing this ‘truth’ with knowledge drawn from the results of the study of the secular sciences. Applied theology thus draws on revealed truth and the teaching of the Church, but discerns above all the knowledge drawn from the experience of man and his active presence in the world. This knowledge is needed by the Church so that it can ‘make visible’ the realisation of the salvific mission, but it is above all needed by Christians so that they can fruitfully realise their individual vocation and also act effectively in the social sphere.[20]
The intelligence of man, nature and human society
According to Revelation, it was God who gave humans his Spirit so that they would have ‘wisdom, reason, knowledge and the knowledge of every craft’ (Ex 35:31).[21] Reason is an expression of the dignity bestowed on humans by the Creator, who created humans in his image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26) and enabled them to respond to his love through freedom and knowledge. Science and technology demonstrate in a special way this fundamentally relational property of human reason: they are extraordinary products of its creative potential.[22]
In its basic meaning, intelligence refers directly to the human being and denotes the ability to understand, learn and remember acquired knowledge, which the human being can use practically, i.e. apply in his or her functioning as a person. Intelligence, however, is not only thinking, but also judging, deciding, reacting, that is, in general, a way of manifesting a rational and free human presence in the real world.
The concept of natural intelligence, however, can also be applied in a broader sense to earthly reality, i.e. the entire created world. For all things, by the very fact that they are created, have their own permanence, truthfulness, goodness and at the same time their own laws and order, which man must respect.[23]
Alongside man's natural intelligence and the intelligence of nature, there is also the concept of social intelligence. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (no. 36) records that human societies, like created things, enjoy their own laws and values, which man is gradually to know, accept and order.[24]
Every moment of human life is a miracle of existence, of which man is individually unaware; for life appears to be a self-contained process, autonomous but due: ‘I am because I am’. Also, the whole of nature seems to be at the service of man, since he can manage (rule over) nature. The same is true of human society, the functioning of which is managed by man. However, according to the principle of the relative ‘autonomy of temporal things’, man must recognise the truth that created things depend on God, and cannot use them without relating them to Him.
In the real world, therefore, ‘intelligence’ means first the presence and action of God, who makes things what they are.[25] God has also endowed man with intelligence, whose first duty is to know his being and existence. Since man has to take care of his daily existence, therefore his second challenge is to discern the intelligence of society and the intelligence of nature having its own laws and order, which man should respect, having recognised the proper methods of the individual sciences or arts.[26]
In applied theology, research focuses on the person of man, who was created by God ‘by created nature’ in His likeness and image. Man's individuality, on the other hand, derives from his endowment with a created, immortal soul. And here the reflections of St Teresa of Jesus can be incorporated. According to her, ‘one of the greatest goods of the kingdom of heaven consists in the fact that the soul is not preoccupied with the affairs of earth and the world, but rejoices in the joys of all, and feels peace and deep happiness because the whole world praises, glorifies and blesses the holy name of God, that no one offends Him with his sins, but that all people love Him. Also the soul itself is not occupied with anything else but loving God and cannot stop loving because it knows Him. If we knew Him, we would love Him already here, admittedly not in this way or so perfectly, but certainly far more than we do now."[27]
This teaching of St Teresa makes it possible to define man's presence in the real world. Well, man strives to satisfy his basic bodily, material and psychological needs, which focuses his life on nature and society. In the spiritual dimension, however, life focuses on God. On the other hand, it should be emphasised that just as the human soul participates in existential existence, the body also participates in man's spiritual relationship with God. The mortal body and the immortal soul are therefore not separate, but constitute a whole and a unity. It must also be added that just as the presence of the soul is not perceived or distinguished in the existence of the corporeal human being, so the limitations of the body are not seen in the existence of the immortal soul. These reservations have their meaning, since man in every dimension of existence constitutes, appears and acts as an individually whole person.[28]
It is worthwhile at this point to dwell further on the various modes of human existence. Well, the primary environment of man's life is nature, that is, the created world. The Church teaches that man's life changes with death, but it does not end, and when the house of temporal pilgrimage disintegrates, they will find an eternal dwelling prepared in heaven (preface from the Mass for the Dead). Thus, man does not disappear with death, but the form of his existence changes. The reality referred to in the preface as the ‘eternal dwelling’ is still inaccessible to the present means of cognition (intelligence), but man's changed life is still a real life and not an imaginary, hypothetical or, as we might say today, ‘virtual’ life. Eternity is the final state of human existence to which Christ invites every created and redeemed human being.
What is artificial intelligence[29]?
The God-created intelligence of nature and human society is directed towards the intelligence of man, who is dependent on God as Creator and Saviour in his earthly existence. In contrast, man, using his intelligence, creates, with the tools of modern media technology, an artificial intelligence. It enables man to create a virtual world by using a set of data through technologically advanced algorithms. In this world, however, not everything can be calculated and predicted, as it is only a potential representation of the real world, generated with the help of media technology. The media image of the world is artificial, unrealistic, impermanent and contains no guaranteed predictions of the future, only statistical approximations.
To the intelligence of man, nature and society, through modern cybernetic communication tools, artificial intelligence has therefore been added. The concept of intelligence used up to now has simultaneously been combined with a virtual world that is ‘artificial’, just as its intelligence is artificial. It could also be referred to as virtual, cyberspace, media, communication, computational or learning intelligence.
In the world of science and technology, there is no clear definition of artificial intelligence. The term itself, which has already entered the vernacular, encompasses a variety of sciences, theories and techniques aimed at making machines reproduce or mimic the cognitive abilities of human beings in their actions. The term ‘forms of artificial intelligence’ is therefore often used, highlighting the divergence that exists between these systems and the human person. Artificial intelligence is not a unified creation (entity), as its various forms are ‘fragmented’ in the sense that they can only imitate or reproduce certain functions of human (natural) intelligence. The use of the plural also emphasises that these devices, which are very different from one another, should always be considered as ‘sociotechnical systems’. Indeed, their functioning and impact on the human person and his or her life, regardless of the underlying technology, depends not only on their design, but also on the goals and interests of those who own them and those who develop them, as well as on the situations in which they are used."[30]
Intelligent machines can perform the tasks assigned to them with greater efficiency than humans. In its various forms, artificial intelligence, based onmachine learning techniques, although still at a pioneering stage, is already bringing about significant changes in human life, as well as in the fabric of societies, with a profound impact on cultures and social behaviour.[31] Here an important question arises: will humans be able to control the impact of artificial intelligence on their lives and on the real world?
With the development of artificial intelligence, new challenges will arise that are technical, anthropological, educational, social and political in nature. Thus, for example, with artificial intelligence it is possible to achieve greater labour savings, create more efficient automated production using robotics achievements, improve transport and organise more dynamic markets, and revolutionise data collection, organisation and verification processes. At the same time, modern humans must become increasingly aware of the rapid changes taking place and learn to manage them in a way that protects fundamental human rights, respecting institutions and laws that promote the integral development of the human person. Artificial intelligence should serve the best human potential and the most lofty aspirations of modern humans, not compete with them.[32]
Advances in computing and the development of digital technologies are changing the face of communication, public administration, education, consumption, personal interaction and countless other aspects of daily life. However, technologies using a variety of algorithms can extract data from the digital footprints left on the internet to control people's mental and relational habits for commercial or political purposes, often without their knowledge, limiting their informed exercise of freedom of choice. Indeed, in a space such as the World Wide Web, characterised by an overabundance of information, they can shape the flow of data according to selection criteria that are not always noticed by the user.[33]
The digital revolution can help modern people become freer, but it can also trap them in models now known as living in their bubble (echo chamber).[34] It is algorithms that create echo chambers, showing users content that confirms their current beliefs and opinions. Algorithms guide media communications by learning from users' interactions with other content, for example through likes, comments and shares. Algorithms steer social media messages in such a way that they keep users engaged on their platform by delivering relevant and interesting posts.
The virtual image of the world, created by humans thanks to artificial intelligence, will now permanently exist alongside the real world. This state of affairs, however, raises the question: will humans, as creators of the virtual world, be able to retain a decisive influence on its development? And a second, important question: will humans retain full power over artificial intelligence, which is a technical tool, but has a much greater capacity than humans to process and store data, and correlate them with each other? Applied theology is also trying to find answers to these questions.
The virtual world and artificial intelligence
Today, a new virtual world culture is taking shape, in which ‘digitised networks of multimodal communication have embraced all cultural expressions and personal experiences to such an extent that they have made virtuality a fundamental dimension of our reality.’[35] The virtual world can be abbreviated as I³: Interaction (interaction) + Immersion (immersion)+ Imagination (imagination).[36]
In the virtual world, created by man through modern media communication technologies and using the internet network, artificial intelligence was also present from the beginning. Already in the first wave of artificial intelligence, i.e. social media, users discovered new possibilities for communicating online, but at the same time there were also real risks and pathologies in their use. Thus, for example, social media have often become tools of ‘cognitive contamination’, the transformation of reality through partially or completely false narratives, such as fake news or deep fake, or virtually created audio or video messages that use voice or simulate a person's behaviour in a way that is not true. Simulation, which is the basis of these programmes, can be useful in some specific areas, but becomes perverse when it distorts relationships with others and with the real world.[37]
Quite new possibilities, but also dangers, are brought by the second level of generative artificial intelligence. With the launch of the ChatGPT application, a qualitative leap has been made in the use of artificial intelligence in networked media communication. However, this is only the next stage in the development of artificial intelligence, not the beginning. Indeed, at the core of media communication is the assumption that it is possible to create a tool through which humans can more effectively handle and use computer computing power.[38] Artificial intelligence only functions in the virtual world, and should therefore also be defined and described as a technical instrument for the management of cyberspace.
On the other hand, a blurring of the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds has emerged, thanks to the spread of Internet access and facilitated access to modern digital devices. Increasingly, in everyday life, people are combining their presence in the real world with enjoying the benefits of the virtual world. However, this does not eliminate the fundamental equality between the real world and the virtual world. For man functions in the real world, to which he belongs bodily as well as spiritually and psychologically. Man's corporeality has an immanent dimension, whereby he has the possibility of personal (individual) but also social development through the progress of science and modern technology. Man's spirituality, on the other hand, has a transcendent dimension that enables him to overcome his limitations resulting from a nature tainted by the effects of sin in order to orient his life towards God, who is both Creator and Saviour.
The natural environment of man's life is the real world, for the cognition of which man uses his intelligence and senses. The senses are also tools for man's perception of the virtual world. The virtual world becomes at the same time an extension of the sensory cognition of the real world. The virtual world is an ‘image’ created from elements of the real world, but is created by man with the help of artificial intelligence, which is not subject to the logic of natural intelligence. The boundaries between the real world and the virtual world are becoming less and less visible, as man makes increasing use of the tools of artificial intelligence in the virtual world, which will have a limiting effect on his natural intelligence, shaped in the real world.
One can therefore imagine a situation where, as artificial intelligence improves, its tools will be an increasingly easier way for humans to achieve their goals in the virtual world than being guided by natural intelligence. This could lead to the superiority of artificial intelligence over natural intelligence, with the effect of reducing the influence of natural intelligence on the human person and his or her life in the real world. Natural intelligence is based on the foundation of the truth of the relative autonomy of the real world and the limited freedom to exercise the laws to which earthly reality is subject. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is not limited by the truth of the real world, but instead gives man unlimited freedom in the use of the virtual world. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the virtual world is independent of the limitations to which the real world is subject. Above all, by using artificial intelligence, man expands the possibilities of being quantitatively and qualitatively outside of the real everyday reality. For in the virtual world, there is neither the category of time nor the category of limited space. If a person uses the virtual world, the senses, which are closely linked to the functioning of the brain, to reason and intellect, begin to play a subservient role to artificial intelligence, to which they subordinate cognition, feeling and experiencing. Artificial intelligence is therefore beginning to play not so much a tool role as a superior force in the creation of the virtual world, but not only. In the real world, too, artificial intelligence is increasingly subordinating human beings to the use of tools that facilitate and accelerate the realisation of the challenges of everyday life, and this in both the material and functional spheres.

[1] ‘It is therefore necessary to study a specific theological discipline - pastoral theology, or practical theology, which is a scientific reflection on the daily growth of the Church, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the context of history; and thus on the Church as the “universal sacrament of salvation”, as a sign and living instrument of the salvation of Jesus Christ, working through the word, the sacraments and the ministry of love. Pastoral theology is not just a skill, a set of indications, experiences and methods. It has the status of a fully-fledged theological discipline because it draws from the faith the principles and criteria of the pastoral activity of the Church in history; a Church that ‘gives birth’ to the Church every day, as St Bede the Venerable aptly puts it: ‘Nam et Ecclesia quotidie gignit Ecclesiam’. Among these principles and criteria, an evangelical discernment of the socio-cultural and ecclesial situation in which pastoral activity is carried out has a particularly important place.’ John Paul II 1992, 57. John Paul II pointed to man as the fundamental way of the Church (John Paul II 1979, 14). For the Church is made up of human beings, and therefore God speaks in and through the history of every human being. Since the members of the Church fulfil their Christian vocation in the world, therefore every person also discovers the presence of God in the profound social, economic, political, cultural, scientific, technical, as well as moral and religious transformations of concepts and aspirations, ideals and lifestyles. The extent and speed of these changes has also become a challenge for pastoral theology, in which history is no longer just a space of ready-made solutions that could only be the result of thought processes. History is treated as a space for the continuous revelation of God. Kerber, Ertl, Hainz 1991, 34.
[2] John Paul II 1979, 21. ‘The summit of love is the unconditional gift of self that man makes to God and to his brothers. By washing the feet of the apostles, Christ teaches them a servile attitude: "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you speak well, for I am he. If therefore I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet’ (Jn 13:13-14). In this gesture, Jesus reveals a salient feature of his mission: ‘I am among you as one who serves’ (Lk 22:27). A true disciple of Christ, then, is only one who ‘shares’ in his mission by becoming, like him, a zealous servant of others, even by self-sacrifice. For service, that is, concern for the needs of others, is the essence of all authority properly exercised: to reign is to serve’. John Paul II 1998.
[3] John Paul II 1996, 3. ‘For we are God's helpers, and you are God's cultivated field and God's building’ (1 Cor 3:9).
[4] See on this topic: Man at the Crossroads. Artificial intelligence - 25 points of view, ed. J. Brockman, Gliwice 2020 (Helion Publishing S.A.).
[5] Message of Pope Francis for World Media Day https://www.vaticannews.va/pl/watykan/news/2024-01/oredzie-papieza-franciszka-na-lviii-swiatowy-dzien-srodkow-spol.html (accessed 4 III 2024). See J.C. Lennox, 2084: Artificial intelligence and the future of humanity, Warsaw 2023.
[6] John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis, 57. It has the status of a full-fledged theological discipline because it draws from the faith the principles and criteria of the Church's pastoral activity in history. Among these principles and criteria, the evangelical discernment of the socio-cultural and ecclesial situation in which pastoral activity is carried out occupies a particularly important place. Ibid
[7] See J.K. Przybyłowski, ‘Signs of the times’ in historical and cultural perspective, in Pandemic as a ‘sign of the times’ for the Church in Poland, ed. M.J. Tutak, T. Wielebski, Warsaw 2021.
[8] John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptor hominis, 14. ‘Since, therefore, this man is the way of the Church, the way of his daily life and experience, of his mission and hardships - the Church of our epoch must be aware again and again of his ’situation’ - that is to say, aware at the same time of his possibilities, which are constantly being reoriented and thus revealed. It must be aware at the same time of the dangers, aware of all that seems to be opposed to ‘human life becoming more and more human’, so that everything that comprises this life corresponds to the true dignity of man; it must simply be aware of all that is opposed to this.’ Ibid.
[9] According to the Council's teaching, man must be regarded as the centre and summit to which all created things should be directed. Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 12.
[10] The Pastoral Constitution emphasises that, although man belongs to the created world, yet by what his interior contains he ‘surpasses the whole world of things, and returns to these interior depths when he turns to his heart, where God, who examines the heart, awaits him, and where he himself, under the eye of God, decides his own destiny’ Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 14.
[11] ‘The Council, taking up what Vatican I taught, proclaims that “there is a twofold and different order of knowledge”, namely faith and reason, and that the Church does not forbid “that in the exercise of human skills and sciences the principles and methods proper to them should be applied in their own right”; thus, “recognizing this legitimate freedom”, the Church affirms the legitimate autonomy of human culture and especially of the sciences. All this also requires that man, while preserving the moral order and a consideration of the common good, should be free to seek the truth and to proclaim and disseminate his opinions and to exercise whatever faculty he may have; and finally, it requires that he should be informed truthfully about public events’. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 59.
[12] R. Guardini, Letters from Lake Como, Warsaw 2021, pp. 82-83.
[13] Applied theology makes use of the Church's dogmatic teaching, the source of which is Revelation. In the history of the Church, a model for the reading of dogmas has been developed by Saint Vincent of Lerin (433), where the faith of the Church and her fidelity to the revelation received from Christ is compared to a living organism that grows and changes, yet retains its identity. According to him, progress in the Church ‘should truly be a progress of faith and not a change. For the essence of progress is that a thing grows within itself; the essence of change is that a thing changes into something else. Let understanding, knowledge and wisdom grow and make great strides forward - in each individual as well as in the whole, in the individual as well as in the whole Church, according to the level of the years and centuries - but necessarily in its quality, that is, within the same dogma, in the same spirit, in the same sense’ (Commonitorium, 28). There is no consent to change God's truth. Jacek Salij OP on what is changeable and unchangeable in the Church
https://teologiapolityczna.pl/nie-ma-zgody-na-zmienianie-prawdy-bozej-o-tym-co-zmienne-i-niezmienne-w-kosciele (accessed 18 November 2023).
[14] Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exultate, 44.
[15] Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 62.
[16] Briefly, based on the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the human person can be defined as simultaneously a corporeal and a spiritual being (Catechism of the Catholic Church 362). The term soul signifies the human life or the whole human person, as well as all that is innermost and most valuable in man; the soul signifies the spiritual principle in man (Catechism of theCatholic Church 363). The human body participates in the dignity of the ‘image of God’; it is a human body because it is animated by the spiritual soul, and the whole human person is destined to become in the body of Christ the temple of the Spirit (Catechism of theCatholic Church 364). The unity of body and soul is so profound that the soul can be regarded as the ‘form’ of the body; this means that, thanks to the spiritual soul, the body formed from matter is a living and human body; spirit and matter in man are not two joined natures, but their union forms one nature (Catechism of the Catholic Church 365).
[17] Man also has a psyche, which can be studied by psychologists. The psyche is revealed by the functioning of spiritual forces through reason, will, feelings and emotions and human action. Man's psyche is intimately connected with the soul and the spiritual powers of reason and will, through which he is endowed with freedom, ‘a particular sign of the image of God’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1705). Through reason, the human person is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. Through his will, he is capable of directing himself to his true good (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1704). God created man as a rational being, giving him the dignity of a person endowed with the ability to decide and rule over his actions (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1730). The spiritual tradition of the Church also speaks of the heart, ‘the depth of the being’, where the person stands for or against God (Catechism of the Catholic Church 368). The human heart is the source from which the affections flow, which are natural components of the human psyche, constitute a transitional area and provide the link between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1764). The concept of ‘feelings’ belongs to the Christian heritage. Sensations or feelings denote emotions or stirrings of the sensibility that prompt one to act or not to act, according to what is felt or imagined as good or bad (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1763). Man has many feelings. The most basic emotion is love caused by a predilection for the good. Love produces a desire for an absent good and the hope of obtaining it. This desire culminates in pleasure and enjoyment of the good possessed. Fear of evil evokes hatred, loathing and fear of future evil. This fear culminates in sorrow for the evil that exists or anger against it (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1765). ‘Feelings in themselves are neither good nor evil. They acquire moral value in so far as they actually depend on reason and on the will’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1767). ‘The perfection of moral or human good requires reason to guide the emotions’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1767). ‘Emotions and sensations can be transformed into virtues or distorted into vices’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1774).
[18] Christ's incarnation and saving work do not cancel or diminish temporal values - for the work of the Redeemer is not opposed to the work of the Creator. This knowledge will be able to be used in the life and activity of the Church, whose purpose is to fulfil its salvific mission. It is also the knowledge that the lay faithful need in order to fulfil their Christian vocation and carry out their mission of evangelisation and apostolate in the Church and in the world, in which they should take an active part in building up the kingdom of God.
[19] John Paul II, Encyclical Fides et ratio, 92 Throughout history, theology, as a rational understanding of Revelation, has always been faced with the task of receiving the achievements of different cultures and then assimilating the content of faith to them using concepts corresponding to those cultures. Today, too, it has a twofold mission to fulfil. On the one hand, it must carry out the task entrusted to it by the Second Vatican Council in its time, namely to renew its methodology in order to serve evangelisation more effectively. It is difficult not to quote in this context the words spoken by Pope John XXIII at the opening of the Council: ‘In accordance with the fervent desire of all who sincerely love the Christian, Catholic and apostolic faith, this doctrine must be made more widely known and more deeply understood, and human minds must be given a fuller education and formation in this field; it is necessary that this certain and unchanging doctrine, to which fidelity and respect must be shown, should be deepened and presented in a way that meets the requirements of our time.’ [19] John XXIII, Address at the Opening of the Council (11 October 1962), AAS 54(1962), p. 792.
[20] There was, therefore, a need to examine the world in which the Church had always contributed to the progress of culture, although it is known from experience ‘that, for adventitious reasons, the reconciliation of culture with Christian teaching has not always gone without difficulty. These difficulties are not necessarily detrimental to the life of faith, but may even stimulate the mind to a more accurate and profound understanding of it. For newer research and discoveries in the sciences, as well as in history and philosophy, raise new questions with life-long consequences, and demand new inquiries from theologians. Furthermore, theologians are encouraged, while preserving the methods and requirements proper to the science of theology, to seek ever more appropriate ways of bringing doctrine to the attention of their contemporaries; for the deposit of the faith itself, or its truth, is one thing, and the manner of expressing it, while preserving the same meaning and significance, is another. In pastoral care, not only theological principles but also the achievements of the secular sciences, especially psychology and sociology, must be sufficiently recognised and applied so as to lead the faithful, too, to a sound and more mature life of faith’. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 62.
[21] Man can celebrate with gratitude the freely received gift of friendship with the Lord if he recognises ‘that also our temporal life and our natural faculties are a gift. We must ‘recognise with joy that our reality is the fruit of a gift and accept also our freedom as grace. This is difficult today in a world that believes it has something of itself, the fruit of its originality and freedom.’ [21] Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exultate, 55.
[22] Pope Francis' Message for the LVIII World Media Day Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart: for Fully Human Communication, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/pl/messages/communications/documents/20240124-messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html, 2 (accessed 4 III 2024).
[23] Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 36 For nature was endowed in the creative act with laws of nature which keep it in synergy of coexistence. Nature exists, that is to say, it exists, functions, transforms itself according to rules which stimulate, but also constrain the action of individual areas of nature, which at the same time cooperate in the overall plan of being of the whole of nature. Nature, therefore, has its own relative autonomy, so that created things enjoy their own laws and values, which man is gradually to know, accept and order, which also corresponds to the will of the Creator. Ibid.
[24] See on this subject J.K. Przybyłowski, Ecclesiology and the socialisation of man in the aspect of applied theology, Seminare. Scientific Explorations, 43(4), pp. 27-40.
[25] Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 36.
[26] Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, 36.
[27] From the work of St Teresa of Jesus, The Way of Perfection (ch. 30, 1-5), in Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 3, p. 356.
[28] See P. Mrzygłód, Soul and body as integral components of human being. Position of realist metaphysics, Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny 20(2012)1, pp. 177-196.
[29] See on this topic: F. Kurp, Artificial intelligence from scratch, Gliwice 2023 (published by Helion S.A.).
[30] Message for the World Day of Peace, 2.
[31] Message for the World Day of Peace, 3.
[32] Message for the World Day of Peace, 2.
[33] Message for the World Day of Peace, 2.
[34] See, for example, K.H. Jamieson, J.N. Cappella, Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment, Oxford University Press, New York 2008.
[35] M. Castells: The network society. Transl. M. Marody et al. eds. M. Marody. PWN, Warsaw 2011, p. 21.
[36] G.C. Burdea, P. Coiffet, Virtual Reality Technology, Viley Interscience 2003, p. 4.
[37] Message of Pope Francis for World Media Day https://www.vaticannews.va/pl/watykan/news/2024-01/oredzie-papieza-franciszka-na-lviii-swiatowy-dzien-srodkow-spol.html
[38] The computing power of a computer is the number of arithmetic operations that the device can perform in a certain unit of time. The first computers only performed integer operations, but since the 1960s floating-point operations have been used, which are more flexible and more convenient to use for most applications. Today, computing power is expressed in terms of the number of such operations per second (FLoating point Operations Per Second - FLOPS). In contrast, the computing power of state-of-the-art quantum computers compared to classical computers may depend on the number of entangled qubits in their memory. See on this subject Michael A Nielsen, Isaac L Chuang: Quantum Computation and Quantum Information. Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0521635035; Piotr Biskupski, Piotr Beńke, How the first IBM Q System One quantum computer works and what its capabilities are, itwiz.pl, 2019-02-19, https://itwiz.pl/jak-dziala-jakie-ma-mozliwosci-pierwszy-kwantowy-komputer-ibm-system/ (accessed 5. 07. 2023).
[39] John Paul II, Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem, n. 6: AAS 78 (1986), 815-816.
[40] Encyclical Veritatis splendor: n. 34: AAS 85 (1993), 1161.
[41] Gaudium et spes, 22. HOLY CONGREGATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Declaration on Certain Questions of Sexual Ethics Persona humana (29 December 1975), 4: AAS 68 (1976), 80: ‘In fact, if divine revelation and philosophical knowledge - in their proper order - draw attention to the authentic demands of humanity, they thereby prove unequivocally the existence of immeasurable rights which are inscribed in the constitutive elements of human nature and appear in the same form in all beings endowed with reason.’
[42] Gordon Dryden, Jeanette Vos, Revolution in Learning, Moderski & S-ka Publishers, Poznań 2000, transl. Bożena Jóźwiak, p. 306, p. 302.