Most Catholics haven’t read all 240 paragraphs of Magnifica Humanitas. Pope Leo XIV had some surprisingly specific things to say about your data, your apps, and the algorithms deciding what you see right now. Here are five quotes that should change how you think about your personal data:
5 Things About Data That Pope Leo XIV Wants Every Catholic To Know
§104 “For this reason, ethical discernment cannot be limited to asking whether we are using a system for good or bad purposes; it must also examine how that system is designed and what vision of the human person and society is embedded in the data and models that guide it.” — Pope Leo XIV
You and I are responsible to understand who is building what we use and why. If it’s free, what is the product? It’s you. What data are you giving the free applications? What are you trading your data for? What are they doing with it? Do they really have your personal flourishing at heart?
Pope Leo XIV calls for transparency among builders so you can figure out what is happening behind the screen.
§178: “This requires restoring to individuals not only the data that describes them, but also the ability to decide how it is used, by whom and for whose benefit.…” — Pope Leo XIV
Every app we touch is collecting and storing data. The digital sign up for a potluck? The app your parish uses to manage holy hours? Now a datapoint in someone’s database. Pope Leo XIV says that data belongs to you first and foremost, not just the company that built the app or the researcher that collected it. When data is sold or stolen, real people can get hurt.
This goes back to the sources of power. We are all aware that power comes from knowledge and the data points we create are the most intimate knowledge about our families: birth dates, surgery records, medication lists. How does the platform we’re using protect us or not?
§137 “On the level of public policy, this entails establishing norms so that the decision-making behind content selection and its development becomes more transparent and protects personal data.” — Pope Leo XIV
The algorithms that decided you see this article on Instagram or Facebook? Meta won’t tell you what it is. Their algorithm is a black box, no one is allowed to know how it works. Pope Leo XIV is saying you deserve to know why you’re seeing what you’re seeing. This includes what data is being collected about you, stored, and used in the content selection algorithms.
If you don’t know, you don’t have control.
§78 “Solidarity demands that decisions regarding data, algorithms, platforms and artificial intelligence take into account not only the immediate benefit for a few, but also the impact on all peoples and on future generations.” — Pope Leo XIV
Next time you get a new workflow forced upon you at work or a new app is required for a kids’ sports team, remember: Pope Leo has thoughts about that. Imagine an app for adoration that never talked to the oldest parishioners who don’t have phones or email addresses. Or a school homework app that never tested its program with students. Even if it’s inconvenient, Pope Leo says users deserve a voice in building new things.
This is a whole field of development called human-centered design. Talking to the people who might use an app or have their data collected is the first step anyone should take in starting to design new systems. Pope Leo’s call for inclusion even includes families.
§180: “Rather, they reflect a common underlying issue, namely that if technology becomes the ultimate criterion, the human person risks being reduced to data, a cog in a machine or a commodity. If, however, technology is integrated with a wise perspective, it can become an instrument of growth, justice and fraternity.” — Pope Leo XIV
This is the paragraph that summarizes it all: technology should serve the people, not the reverse. Our worth comes from being made in God’s image, not whatever technology we are using. We aren’t datapoints or user profiles. We are magnificently human.
Image: Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Unsplash
