Is there humanity in Pax Silica?

Kevin Stephon Centeno, SJ and Josh Valentin

Published August 10, 2026

PHOTO SOURCED FROM: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2274123/pax-silica-brings-promise-but-at-what-cost, An aerial view shows the proposed 1,620-hectare Pax Silica site at New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, on July 27, 2026. (Grig C. Montegrande/Inquirer)

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical did not merely concern itself with the technology that humans had developed–it seeks to challenge the humanity behind its makers and users.

From the get go, Magnifica Humanitas displays its hope “to collaborate in promoting the integral development of every human being” (MH n. 2) in an era of polycrisis. Amid the prevalence of global war, poverty, and human rights violations, the Pope has relentlessly called for humanity. This encyclical strengthens that clarion call. And so seeking to uphold this magnificent humanity–the encyclical's title directly translated from Latin–takes center stage in Pope Leo XIV’s recent body of work. Where is technology’s place, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), in the wider web of social issues that dehumanize people? 

His encyclical’s introduction (MH n. 15) lays the foundational challenge for the global citizen today: “we must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace.” For Pope Leo XIV, the mission then is to protect the humanity bestowed unto us by our Creator, not letting technology get in the way of recognizing our rights towards a more dignified way of living. Drawing from the biblical narrative of the Tower of Babel with its disastrous consequences, the Pope presents an alternative to the great temptation to play god and lord over creation through the instrumentality of technology: the heavenly symbol of Jerusalem. 

Against simplistic readings of the encyclical, the Pope is not fully rejecting technology, especially artificial intelligence. In fact, the Pope embraces its “power to heal, connect, educate and protect our common home” (MH n. 9) by challenging people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem through utilizing technology towards fraternal, peaceful coexistence and harmony. This aligns with the Catholic sacramental imagination that can find God at work in created realities wherein “Christian humanism does not reject science or technology, but embraces them with gratitude and realism, and grounds them within a higher vocation.” (MH n. 129) 

This choice between building Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem aptly paints the recent dilemma on everyone’s minds. With controversial developments in the Pax Silica initiative, a multilateral agreement led by the United States which seeks to build a wide-scale AI manufacturing and innovation hub in New Clark City, Tarlac, Filipinos are rightfully questioning its intentions and effects. Is Pax Silica leading us towards “work[ing] together in the presence of God to rebuild the walls of fraternal coexistence” (MH n.9) that secures a better life for Filipinos? Or is it leading us towards enabling “a power that claims to dominate the heavens?” (MH n. 9)

Babel in New Clark 

Public frustration with the destructive potential of artificial intelligence and technology are rooted in what Pope Leo XIV calls “Babel syndrome”, which according to him is “the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language–even a digital one–can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance.” (MH n. 10) Technology freed from ethically responsible human hands will in the long run go against humanity, producing more victims than beneficiaries. Thus, the human person is sacrificed at the altar of economic and technological progress. All the more concerning is the ecological damages caused by developing and sustaining AI, which is both a worry Filipinos have with Pax Silica, and that of the Pope’s regarding AI’s evolution:

“Current AI systems require enormous amounts of energy and water, significantly influencing carbon dioxide emissions, and place heavy demands on natural resources. As their complexity increases, especially in the case of large language models, the need for computing power and storage capacity grows too, which requires an extensive network of machines, cables, data centers and energy-intensive infrastructure. For this reason, it is essential to develop more sustainable technological solutions that reduce environmental impact and help protect our common home.” (MH n. 101)

Magnifica Humanitas builds on Pope Francis’ criticism of the “technocratic paradigm” wherein technology becomes the ultimate norm that decides everything, “reducing creation to an object of exploitation and human beings to mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency.” (MH n. 92) The Pope then cites Pope Paul VI, warning us about this form of development that disregards humanity: “the most extraordinary scientific progress, the most astounding technical feats and the most amazing economic growth, unless accompanied by authentic moral and social progress, will in the long run go against man.” (MH n. 94) 

In a recent press conference, concerned Aetas and farmers from Capas, Tarlac have shown concern over the lack of transparency with the plan to establish an approximately 1,618-hectare technology hub in their barangays for the Pax Silica initiative. For them, they are in favor of development. However, they see Babel syndrome seeping in their lands. With no community consultations, nor environmental and impact assessments, our indigenous peoples and farmers are once again left in the dark in favor of technological advancement. Pope Leo XIV warned against this exact phenomenon in Magnifica Humanitas: “Development is not truly human if it increases consumption for some while shifting costs and burdens onto others, or relegates entire regions to subordinate roles, preventing them from realizing their full potential.” (MH n. 83)

Jerusalem over empire

Yet, Pax Silica’s potential environmental impact seems to be the tip of the iceberg. 

As more specific statistics, data, and plans regarding the multilateral project remains uncovered–whether it concerns the technological hub’s logistics, or the number of jobs this initiative will bring–one thing is sure: its role in what seems to be an AI arms race. The Pax Silica declaration, which was signed by its more than thirty member states globally, seeks “a shared and trusted ecosystem of AI developers and vendors” to reduce “excessive dependencies” in response to the “technological revolution in AI.” While unnamed, experts point towards the strengthening dominance of China’s AI supply chain and manufacturing capacity as Pax Silica’s focal target, with America as its key convener leading the charge by strengthening economic and diplomatic collaboration between its initiative’s member-states in order to compete with China’s leverage in AI infrastructure. 

Although Magnifica Humanitas calls for integral human development that requires global economic cooperation, fair deals are crucial and what makes development genuinely that of the common good. With a brewing history of tense geopolitical relations between the United States and China, Pax Silica’s diplomatic implications when gone awry mirror Pope Leo XIV’s fears of “‘asymmetric and hybrid wars’ fought not only on the battleground but also on the economic, financial and cyber fronts” which deeply affects those who are poor and marginalized (MH n. 204). Meanwhile, academics and activists have pointed not only to Pax Silica’s potential role in turning the Philippines into a battleground for war, but its added contribution to a history of Philippine foreign policy that is dependent on superpower countries like the US and China without any major benefits for our country. Peace advocates have also sounded the alarm regarding Israel’s membership in the initiative, citing their use of AI to further what the United Nations has declared a genocide against Palestinians. 

The name Pax Silica is reminiscent of Pax Romana during the time of Jesus Christ. The Roman Empire did not really bring peace and order, but oppression and colonial subjugation to Palestine. Do we really think that Pax Silica will bring greater peace and order? Will it bring genuine economic progress to the Philippines? For the survival of all, we must heed Pope Leo’s clarion call to “disarm” AI which entails “freeing it from the mentality of ‘armed’ competition, “discrediting the assumption that technical power automatically confers the right to govern,” and “preventing it from dominating humanity.” (MH n. 110) We must also heed Magnifica Humanitas’ call to reject the culture of war towards promoting peace through advocating for a foreign economic policy that is independent to the interests of empires like America and China, yet promotes collaboration for the good of all nations most especially ours. 

As a response to Pax Romana’s empire of terror, God became human in the vulnerable newborn Jesus: the true bringer of peace. The divine and vulnerable solidarity of the child Jesus unmasked the evil deceits of Pax Romana. While we usher into a new industrial revolution through AI, we are reminded by Pope Leo XIV of technology’s power to bring both good and evil because “the construction of Babel or the rebuilding of Jerusalem begins within each one of us.” (MH n. 130) May we choose to yield technology like AI in the flourishing of humanity and creation. 

Kevin Stephon R. Centeno, SJ, is a Jesuit regent teaching in Xavier University Junior High School. 

Josh Valentin is a Junior Program Officer for Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, the sociopolitical apostolate of the Philippine Jesuits.