Theologian explains new book, ‘A Catholic Guide to Being Human,’ in a time of confusion
John S. Grabowski, professor of moral theology at The Catholic University of America, presents his new book “A Catholic Guide to Being Human” as a response to societal confusion over identity amid AI and technology. The book argues that despite advances in science, humans still lack self‑knowledge and that only God’s revelation in Christ can clarify what it means to be human. Grabowski cautions against both over‑optimistic and fearful attitudes toward AI, noting that artificial intelligences lack experience, body, emotions, and relationships, and therefore cannot be considered persons. He references Vatican II’s “Gaudium et Spes” and Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” to support the claim that human dignity is rooted in divine revelation rather than technological progress.
about 2 months ago
The new book A Catholic Guide to Being Human by John S. Grabowski addresses contemporary confusion about human identity, especially in light of rapid technological advances, by rooting a vision of humanity in Christ and Church teaching. 1
Grabowski argues that despite scientific progress, people still lack a clear understanding of what it means to be human, a problem first noted by the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et Spes 1. He proposes that true self‑knowledge comes only through God’s self‑revelation in Jesus Christ, which clarifies humanity’s supreme calling.
The theologian warns that the rise of large‑language models fuels mistaken views of AI as “persons,” leading either to unrealistic optimism or fear of domination. Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas emphasizes that AI lacks experience, embodiment, emotions, and relational capacity, making it a tool—not a person. 1
Grabowski focuses on how modern fertility technologies, contraception, and transhumanist ambitions treat sexuality and reproduction as mechanical problems rather than gifts rooted in divine design. He stresses that sexual difference and fertility are integral to human dignity and should be respected as participation in God’s creative work. 1
The interview highlights evangelization as the primary hope for restoring a Christ‑centered humanism. Growing church attendance in previously declining areas, increased awareness of the harms of screens and social media, and a yearning among young people for authentic friendship, love, and vocation are seen as positive signs for the future. 1
Grabowski’s book seeks to guide readers toward a deeper understanding of humanity that resists reductive technological narratives and embraces the relational, embodied nature of persons as revealed in Christ, offering a hopeful outlook rooted in evangelization and authentic human connection. 1
Human dignity is rooted in divine revelation, not technology
Human dignity is not produced by intelligence, productivity, autonomy, or technological achievement. It is first received as a gift from God. Technology may serve human dignity, protect it, or threaten it—but it can never be its source.
The Church teaches that every human person is created in the image and likeness of God. This image is “indelible”: it is not erased by weakness, illness, disability, dependence, sin, poverty, or loss of cognitive ability. Human dignity therefore belongs to the person from the beginning of existence and remains in every circumstance.
This is why dignity cannot depend on a person’s technological usefulness or measurable capacities. If dignity were grounded in intelligence, self-awareness, productivity, or freedom of choice as currently exercised, then infants, unborn children, people with profound disabilities, the elderly, and those temporarily unconscious could be treated as less human. The Church rejects this conclusion: dignity is intrinsic and inalienable, not assigned by society or calculated by performance.
The Catechism summarizes the theological foundation:
“The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God” and is fulfilled in the human vocation to divine beatitude.
In other words, a human being is not merely an organism, a biological platform, a consumer, a worker, a data profile, or a user. The person is a creature willed by God for his or her own sake, endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, and destined for eternal communion with God.
Divine revelation does not merely provide an abstract theory of dignity. In Jesus Christ, God has entered human history and assumed human nature. The Incarnation confirms the dignity of both the human body and soul. By becoming man, the Son of God has united himself, in some manner, with every human being.
The Second Vatican Council expresses this with exceptional clarity:
“Only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.”
Christ reveals what humanity is and what humanity is called to become. He possesses a human mind, human will, human body, and human heart. He works with human hands and loves with a human heart. In doing so, he does not abolish human nature but raises it to a new dignity.
This Christological foundation is essential when considering technology. A machine may imitate speech, analyze information, generate images, or assist decision-making. It does not thereby become the measure of the human person. The human person remains the one who is created by God, called to communion with God, redeemed by Christ, and capable of freely giving himself or herself in love.
The Church does not reject science and technology. Human creativity is itself a gift entrusted by God. Technology can heal, educate, connect, alleviate suffering, and protect creation. Yet its value depends on the purposes it serves and the way it affects real persons and communities.
The relevant question is therefore not simply whether a technology is advanced, efficient, or profitable. The deeper question is whether it serves the integral good of the human person:
Does it make human life “more human” and “more worthy of man”?
The Church’s understanding of integral human development is important here. “Integral” means development of the whole person and of every person—not merely increased productivity, computational capacity, economic output, or access to digital services. Pope Leo XIV stresses that no person may be reduced to “productivity,” “cognitive performance,” or “mere data.” Each person possesses freedom, interiority, and a vocation to love and worship that no machine can replace.
Technology is therefore properly ordered when it remains subordinate to the human person and the common good. It becomes disordered when it treats persons as instruments, commodities, datasets, behavioral targets, or replaceable units of production.
Technology can alter a person’s circumstances, abilities, opportunities, and social relationships. It cannot alter the person’s fundamental dignity.
A person may receive a prosthetic limb, use an implanted medical device, rely on artificial intelligence for communication, or benefit from sophisticated medical treatment. Such technologies can help the person exercise capacities that illness or injury has impeded. But the technology does not create the person’s dignity. It assists a person who already possesses dignity.
The same principle applies when technology is absent. A person without internet access, formal education, advanced medical care, or digital skills is not less worthy than someone who possesses them. Nor does technological enhancement make one human being intrinsically superior to another. Human worth cannot be ranked according to access to tools.
The Church’s teaching also guards against the opposite error: believing that a person loses dignity when technology cannot restore health, independence, or mental capacity. The dignity of those who are elderly, dependent, mentally ill, severely disabled, or terminally ill remains unconditional. Jesus’ own ministry especially revealed the dignity of the weak, despised, and suffering, precisely those whom society might consider burdensome or “unproductive.”
Dignity is a gift, but it also carries a vocation. Because the human person is created in God’s image, he or she possesses intellect and free will and is called to seek truth and the good. Freedom is not merely the ability to choose; it is the capacity to direct oneself toward what is truly good.
This distinction matters in technological ethics. A system may offer many options, but multiplying options does not necessarily make a person freer. Technology can also manipulate attention, influence choices, intensify dependency, spread falsehood, or concentrate power. A person’s dignity is respected when technology supports responsible judgment and authentic relationships; it is undermined when technology replaces judgment, exploits weakness, or makes individuals passive objects of control.
The Church therefore rejects a notion of autonomy detached from truth and moral law. Vatican II warns that human rights are not secured by exemption from every divine requirement. Such a false autonomy can lead not to human flourishing but to the destruction of human dignity.
Faith does not oppose reason; it protects reason from being reduced or manipulated. Dignitas Infinita explains that, without the corrective of religion, reason can be distorted by ideology or applied in a partial way that fails to account for the full dignity of the human person. This is particularly relevant when technical systems are presented as objective or autonomous while embodying the assumptions, priorities, and interests of their designers and users.
Catholic discernment asks several connected questions:
Technological innovation is not neutral in its concrete effects. It can promote participation and justice, but it can also intensify inequality, surveillance, manipulation, control, and exclusion. For that reason, it must be evaluated according to whether it makes individuals and peoples more humane and fraternal.
The proper alternative is not naïve enthusiasm versus irrational fear. It is the choice between forms of progress: one that serves persons and peoples, and another that subjects them to a mentality of power.
Human dignity is rooted in the creative love of God, confirmed by the Incarnation of Christ, and oriented toward eternal communion with God. It is not manufactured by technology, recognized only by technical performance, or diminished by dependence and weakness.
Technology has an important place in human life, but it must remain a servant rather than a sovereign. Its success should not be measured only by what it can do, but by whether it helps human beings live more truthfully, freely, justly, relationally, and lovingly. The human person—not the machine, the market, or the system—must remain at the center, because every person bears the indelible image of God and is united to Christ.