Magnifica Humanitas: Human Dignity, Technology, and the International Order

Pope Leo XIV signing the Magnifica Humanitas Encyclical / Vatican News

In May 2025, Pope Leo XIV presented his first encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas. In a lengthy, thoughtfully constructed, insightful document, the Pope addresses a broad range of questions from the nature of human personality to artificial intelligence to peaceful international order. It emphasizes the role of human dignity as an ultimate ethical principle for navigating the challenges and leveraging the opportunities that our rapidly changing world holds for humanity. It warns against both unlimited belief in technological progress and Luddism-style rejection of it. This blog series has united theologians, constitutional theorist, political scholars, software business managers, and human rights lawyers to reflect on this powerful document and on the ethical approaches and solutions it advocates to make our use of technology safer and more dignified, and the world more just, equal, and peaceful.

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Strengthening the Interpretation and Implementation of UN Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace

Brett G. Scharffs is director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies and Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. The following is a lightly edited version of his remarks given during a panel discussion on Human Rights Council Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace, during the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council, 4 March 2026, at the Assembly Hall, Palais de Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

I would like to join others in thanking the High Commissioner for Human Rights for organizing this panel discussion on Human Rights Council Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace, adopted two years ago, on 4 April 2024.

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Preserving Religious Cultural Heritage: Invoking Perspectives on Human Dignity and the Virtues of Religious Freedom

Brett G. Scharffs is Director of the International Center of Law and Religion Studies and Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. This post is based on a presentation given at the conference “Promoting Pluralism Through Religious Cultural Heritage Preservation” held at Exeter College, University of Oxford, 18 March 2026.

Religious cultural heritage preservation can be viewed as a human rights issue. But taking a purely human rights approach to religious cultural heritage preservation can be somewhat awkward since human rights are primarily recognized and protected for individuals. Preservation can also be viewed as a property right, but scratch the surface, and you realize it goes much deeper, in part because the property at issue resonates so deeply within communities. And so a rights-based approach may not be the end-all be-all when justifying preservation of religious sites.

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