September 26, 2026
Finding Common Ground on
Artificial Intelligence
Montreal, 2026-09-24
In the summer of 2026, a small discussion group gathered in Montreal to study Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on artificial intelligence (AI), and to reflect on the questions it raises. What began with a handful of participants soon grew to more than a dozen people from diverse professional and religious backgrounds. Danielle Morin, a professor at Concordia University who specializes in artificial intelligence in education, took part in the group’s six meetings devoted to the encyclical. Here she discusses how the group came together, the exchanges that resonated most with participants, and why human dignity offers common ground for reflecting on the future of AI.
How the Group Began
The group came together very naturally. One colleague asked another whether he would be interested in forming a small group to study Magnifica Humanitas, the encyclical written by Pope Leo XIV. The document was drawing considerable discussion at the time, particularly about its significance for the future of artificial intelligence.
When my husband was invited to join, I thought it was a wonderful idea and asked whether I could take part as well. I had already developed a personal interest in reading and studying the encyclical, and I felt that discussing it with others would make the experience even more meaningful. Studying an important document as a group lets participants hear different interpretations, ask questions and discover perspectives they might not have considered reading it alone.
The group grew from three members to four, and eventually to more than a dozen. We became a very diverse group that included several university professors, engineers, entrepreneurs and other informed and interested citizens. Not everyone who joined was Catholic, but everyone shared a genuine desire to understand what the Holy Father had to say about artificial intelligence and its implications for society.
The Six Sessions
We met six times over the summer of 2026. For each session, one member of the group took responsibility for studying a portion of the encyclical and presenting it to the others. This gave everyone the chance to engage more deeply with a particular section and then share that understanding with the group. The diversity of the group made the discussions particularly engaging.
Human Dignity as Common Ground
One of the most striking aspects of our discussions was the central place of human dignity, a principle deeply rooted in Catholic social teaching. What surprised me most was how strongly it resonated with the entire group. Despite our different backgrounds and beliefs, most participants found themselves in agreement with many of the fundamental concerns the encyclical expresses. Human dignity became a point of convergence, a principle that could bring people together even when their religious or professional perspectives differed.
For me, this was one of the most important lessons of our group. The principles set out in Magnifica Humanitas are not relevant to Catholics alone. Many of the questions the encyclical raises concern society as a whole. What does it mean to remain human in an increasingly technological world? How do we protect human dignity? How should technology serve people rather than replace or diminish them? Pope Leo calls for AI to be disarmed and placed at the service of the common good, rather than left in the hands of a few.
Artificial Intelligence and the Need for Reflection
Our discussions also made clear that artificial intelligence is no longer something society can simply ignore. AI is here to stay, and it will continue to develop. The question, then, is not whether we can stop it, but how we can ensure that it is developed and used in ways that respect human dignity and serve the common good.
We agreed that safeguards are necessary. At the same time, we recognized that safeguards cannot come from technology alone. They require reflection, ethical principles, responsible policies, education and an ongoing public conversation about the role we want artificial intelligence to play in our lives. The encyclical provides an important framework for thinking through these questions. It addresses contemporary issues related not only to artificial intelligence, but also to technology, communication and society more broadly.
A Discussion Worth Continuing
Looking back on these six sessions, I am grateful that the group developed as naturally as it did. What started as a small gathering of a few people became a much larger and more diverse group, united by a desire to understand the implications of artificial intelligence and the human questions surrounding it.
I hope many more groups like ours will form. Creating opportunities for Catholics and non-Catholics, academics and professionals, technical experts and citizens to read Magnifica Humanitas, discuss its ideas and reflect on its message could contribute to a much broader conversation about artificial intelligence.
The experience reminded me that important documents are often best understood not only by reading them on our own, but by reading them together, listening to one another and asking what their message means for the society in which we live.
– by Danielle Morin
Danielle Morin, PhD, is a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, where she teaches managerial analytics and machine learning. Her research focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence in education. She is co-coordinator of CAPP-Canada, the Canadian chapter of the Vatican-based Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, created by Pope St. John Paul II to promote Catholic social doctrine.
Source: montrealdiocese.org
September 5, 2026
Montreal, 2026-09-04
Flash floods tore through Nepal on August 26, 2026, near the China-Nepal border, prompting Development and Peace – Caritas Canada to call on Canadians for urgent support.
The floods caused extensive damage across several regions of the country, washing out roads and destroying countless homes. Thousands of people have been affected, and many families remain without shelter as rescue and relief operations continue.
A trusted partner of Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, Caritas Nepal has already deployed teams to the affected areas. Working alongside local authorities, it is taking part in rescue operations and delivering food and emergency supplies to displaced families.
Concrete Help for Those Affected
Given the scale of the disaster and the urgency of the need, Development and Peace is asking Canadians to contribute to Caritas Nepal’s relief efforts.
To support those affected by the floods:
Donate to Development and Peace – Caritas Canada
Donations can also be made by phone,
toll-free, at 1-888-234-8533.
Praying for the People of Nepal
In this time of trial for the Nepali people, we are also called to pray for those who have died, for those who have lost their homes and their loved ones, and for the relief workers serving affected communities.
May God sustain all who are suffering because of this disaster, and move each of us to solidarity and compassion.
August 22, 2026
Montreal Joins Bishops from Across the Americas on Migration
Sponsorship Program for Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Archdiocese of Montreal
Bishops and pastoral workers from across the Americas gathered virtually on Aug. 12 for the thirteenth meeting organized by the Socio-Pastoral Observatory for Human Mobility of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean (OSMECA), a continental network coordinating the Catholic Church’s response to migration. The Archdiocese of Montreal took part for a fourth year, represented this time by Bishop Pierre Goudreault, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), and Father Pierangelo Paternieri, c.s., Episcopal Vicar for Cultural and Ritual Communities of the archdiocese.
The meeting drew bishops and migration ministry leaders from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America and the Caribbean. Father Gustavo Meneses, OSMECA’s executive director, led the sessions, sustaining a network of ecclesial collaboration along the entire migratory route that runs the length of the American continent, from south to north.
A Road Traveled Together for Years
The proceedings opened with remarks from Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Under-Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (Cardinal Baggio is set to become its Pro-Prefect on Sept. 1). He recalled that the Dicastery has accompanied this network since its very first meeting, born to share pastoral experience and build common ground among the continent’s bishops’ conferences along the migratory route. The Cardinal spoke candidly of trends now at work across much of the region — deportations, pushbacks, rising xenophobia and discrimination — and urged those present not to lose the sense of humanity now threatened by the aggression and self-interest of the moment. He also observed that the climate crisis will continue to compound the social, economic, and political pressures driving people from their homelands, and that this “ecological debt” will need to be factored into future migration policy, at a time when spaces of welcome for asylum seekers and refugees are, paradoxically, narrowing rather than widening. Cardinal Baggio closed by conveying, on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, his gratitude for the work carried out by local Churches “against the current” on behalf of migrants, holding up the OSMECA network as a model other regions of the world might follow.
Canada’s Voice: A Season of Restriction, and Still, Reasons for Hope
Bishop Goudreault offered a detailed portrait of migration in Canada today: nearly a quarter of the country’s population was born abroad, the highest share among G7 nations, even as recent years have brought a marked tightening of immigration policy and a record drop in arrivals to Quebec. He pointed to the pastoral challenges this creates — of Canada’s 72 dioceses, only about 20 currently have a structured ministry for human mobility — and announced that the CCCB will open a new national office dedicated to this work in September.
There was hope in his account as well. Bishop Goudreault noted that despite the overall decline in arrivals, Quebec still welcomed new migrants this past year, most of them workers, alongside people arriving through family reunification and refugees — a sign that welcome, even in a more restrictive climate, remains very much alive. He observed that families arriving from Africa and Latin America in particular carry with them a deep faith capable of reviving parishes marked by heavy secularization, going so far as to call them true “missionaries” for the Canadian Church. To this he added the invaluable contribution of fidei donum priests (priests loaned by their home dioceses to serve elsewhere) from Africa, Colombia, and other Latin American countries, who today make up a significant share of the clergy serving in several dioceses, including his own. Bishop Goudreault closed with three proposals for a shared path among the Churches of the Americas: strengthening the continental network of welcome and solidarity, working together against trafficking and exploitation, and raising a common prophetic voice for human mobility that is more just and more secure.
Other Voices, Other Fronts
From the United States, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, gave a particularly vivid account of the current political climate, marked by mounting pressure on migrants. He described the Bishops’ Conference’s concrete engagement on two fronts: defending an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the Haitian community, for whom, he insisted, conditions for a safe return do not exist today, and fighting, alongside diocesan networks such as Chicago’s Pastoral Migratoria (migrant ministry network), for the right of pastoral visitation in detention centres — an effort that has, in recent weeks, helped block the construction of new detention facilities. Bishop Cahill also cited the Mass recently celebrated in the Washington area by Cardinal Chibly Langlois of Haiti and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami in solidarity with the Haitian community, along with the support it drew from some Republican political figures — a sign, he said, that even here, a change of heart remains possible. Echoing testimony offered the previous year by Dylan Corbett of the Hope Border Institute in San José, Costa Rica, he turned to the value of “small stories of hope and survival”: priests who reach detainees for confession and Communion, separated families who find the strength to carry on, communities that, amid suffering, continue to bear witness that for every person, a different ending is still within reach.
Professor Gerardo Cruz González, an OSMECA researcher and professor at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM), presented a reflection on the magisterial transition from Pope Francis to Pope Leo XIV, revisiting the “four verbs” — to welcome, to protect, to promote, to integrate — in light of today’s new historical challenges and Pope Leo’s recent encyclical on human dignity. He also invoked the weight of historical memory, tracing a line from Friar Antonio de Montesinos’s 1511 denunciation of the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples in Hispaniola to today’s global crisis of human mobility.
The Road Ahead
The meeting concluded with the announcement of the network’s next steps: a third webinar on human rights, set for Aug. 27, and the fourteenth meeting, to be held in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico, from Aug. 9 to 13, 2027.
Now in its fourth year, the Archdiocese of Montreal’s presence at this continental gathering confirms a spirit of openness and collaboration with sister Churches across the Americas. As was said more than once during the meeting, the pastoral care of human mobility calls for a response that reaches beyond national and ecclesial borders, matching the scale of a phenomenon that touches the whole continent.
Source: diocesemontreal.org
