Do we really want to be human?
Sometimes I think not.
I’m pondering this now in light of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On safeguarding humanity in the time of Artificial Intelligence.
Billed as the “AI” encyclical, it is more than that. The document includes a masterful summary of Catholic Social Teaching. It recenters us in the commitment to human dignity and the dignity of human labor. And – to my mind, at least – it gives us a way to transform our understanding of what it means to be human.
I’m a slow reader when I want to savor something. Once I reached paragraph 12, it was several days before I could move past it, so deeply moved was I by what it revealed: “… building for the common good means accepting the limits and weakness of humanity without considering them an error to be corrected.” (MH 12)
Am I reading this right? Does this mean human limitation is not a bug but a feature? Our limitations baked in? On purpose? For a reason? What ever could that be?
Some possibilities: Our 15th century Dominican Sister Catherine of Siena had one answer. Once, she heard Jesus say to her “I am he who is; you are she who is not.” Put colloquially, “I’m God; you aren’t.” Then, the Quran tells us that God made us weak so that we would need each other and, in that way, build a society together. This is a point Leo makes as well, with the image of Prophet Nehemiah, who calls on the whole Israelite community, young and old, to contribute to rebuilding Jerusalem. Thirdly, through evolutionary science we acknowledge that human consciousness has evolved – and continues evolving, however imperfectly – as we adapt to our environment and grow in consciousness. In other words, the project of being human is a work in progress.
So, here are three reasons to rejoice in our limits without desiring a fix: We are relieved of God duty, we deepen our relationships with one another, and we can each contribute, in our own way, to the growing task of being human together.
So, as the encyclical reminds us, as our limits and weaknesses remind us, we are created beings – that is our strength and gift. When we lean into our humanity – limits, weaknesses and all – we reach the pinnacle of human life and joy. And furthermore, our humanity is also the path to our sanctity, our holiness, our fulfillment.
This is hard to accept, isn’t it?
Once I unwittingly scandalized a parish gathering by referencing theologian Karl Barth who said that only God is really human, in the person of Jesus.
The room gasped as one, and for a split second took me aback. What’s hard about understanding Jesus as the most fully human human? Well, at least two things. First, we think of Jesus on a completely different plane than ourselves. We pay lip-service to a human God, but when it comes down to it, I suspect most of us are really functional heretics who want to believe Jesus was really God disguised as a human – not fully human at all.
Likewise, I suspect we want to think of ourselves on a completely different plane than Jesus. That is, if Jesus is the only really fully human one, then we have the potential to become like Jesus – as he himself told us. That doesn’t feel so good, either, because it means following his path to the cross.
Yet – this is essentially the message we need to hear, the message Pope Leo is attempting to impart to us and that he brought home in the very first paragraph of Magnifica Humanitas:
“Whenever humanity is in danger of marring its true identity, we Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is ‘only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.’”
In other words, as individuals and as a society, we advance toward the full magnificence of our humanity by imitating the self-giving love of Jesus. It is only in Jesus and through Jesus that human being comes fully into focus. As Paul told the Colossians, this Jesus, who is “the image of the invisible God” is the source and model of our humanity. This is why our efforts to become fully human are really worth it – not in spite of but because of our weaknesses and limits. So “human forward” – without fear!
A personal note: this is the last time I’ll write this column as director of the communications office for my congregation. After spending 19 of the last 26 years in that role, it is time for a change. I don’t know what that is yet. I’m not skipping town, and am looking forward to discovering how God will next use my human limits and weakness for building the common good. Stay tuned!
Sister Beth Murphy is, for a few more days, the communications director for the Dominican Sisters of Springfield.
This article appears in June 18-24, 2026.
