Fully Human with Eliza Monts

After reading the encyclical closely, I counted the arguments myself: roughly five potential benefits of AI, many of them framed as possibilities, compared with 37 serious concerns and dangers. But I don't think Pope Leo's point is simply to hand Catholics another black-and-white rule. Instead, he gives us a framework rooted in Catholic social teaching, human dignity, creativity, relationships, work, truth, and what it means to be fully human.In this episode, I unpack the difference between generative “chat AI” and the AI operating quietly behind useful technologies, examine Pope Leo's warnings about everything from human relationships and creativity to inequality and warfare, and explain why I've personally concluded that generative AI isn't worth the cost.Most importantly, I talk about why Christians don't need to surrender to the idea that AI is inevitable. We can opt out, protect what is human, and remember that our dignity doesn't come from our productivity or technological capabilities. It comes from being made in the image and likeness of God.00:00 Ways to Read Magnifica Humanitas03:56 Why Encyclical Matters07:55 Chat vs Hidden AI10:07 Pros and Cons Setup11:36 Five Potential Benefits15:04 Dehumanization Warning17:49 Technocracy and Power21:26 Addiction and Trust Collapse27:48 Modern Slavery in Training29:36 Warfare and Violence Risks30:24 Forming Conscience Not Rules34:18 Hope in Human Dignity35:36 Opt Out and Get Loud

What happens when red pill ideology, incel culture, and figures like Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate begin influencing young Catholic men?In this episode of Fully Human, I unpack the growing attraction some Catholic men have toward an internet culture built around resentment, domination, anti-feminism, and a distorted vision of masculinity. I explore why these ideas are fundamentally incompatible with Catholic teaching on the equal dignity of every human person, and why simply wrapping them in Bible verses or traditional aesthetics doesn't make them Christian.Most importantly, I want to offer an alternative. The antidote to red pill masculinity is not another internet ideology. I think it's the masculinity of Jesus Christ: humility, sacrifice, vulnerability, service, prayer, and radical love for others.00:00 Nick Fuentes and the Red Pill02:15 Defining Red Pill Terms04:48 Why the Red Pill finds appeal06:08 Fuentes on Women07:26 Andrew Tate Example08:08 Bad Reasons to Convert11:32 Antidote Jesus Masculinity13:21 Horseshoe and Virtue14:21 Calling It Out15:26 Hope Repentance and SaintsFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

For years, I believed that being a faithful Catholic meant abortion had to determine my vote. If a candidate claimed to be pro-life, every other political issue seemed secondary.Eventually, I realized that isn't actually what the Catholic Church asks of voters.In this episode, I share my story of unlearning single-issue voting, the conversation with my mom that changed how I approached the ballot box, and what the U.S. Catholic bishops actually say in Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.I talk about abortion as a preeminent issue, President Trump, the dignity of already-born human beings, poverty, immigration, racism, war, healthcare, the environment, and why Catholic social teaching makes voting much more complicated than simply choosing the candidate with the “pro-life” label.00:00 Why Politics Matter01:24 Cradle Catholic Roots03:28 Abortion Unit Impact06:33 2016 Trump and Single Issue08:10 Questioning Pro Life Claims10:50 Mom Challenges Voting13:51 Bishops on Many Issues18:28 Not Single Issue Voters21:51 Catholic Social Principles23:33 Encouragement and PrayerFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

Blessed Teresio Olivelli was a practicing Catholic who attended daily Mass, prayed the rosary, and supported Hitler and the Nazi movement.Eventually, something changed. Teresio recognized the profound contradiction between the Catholic faith he professed and the political ideology he supported. He left Germany, fought against fascism, helped found the Catholic underground resistance newspaper Il Ribelle, and was eventually captured and sent to a concentration camp. At only 29 years old, he died after throwing himself over another prisoner to protect him from a guard's brutal beating.In this episode of Fully Human, I explore Teresio's remarkable transformation from Nazi sympathizer to anti-fascist Catholic martyr, and what his life can teach us about cognitive dissonance, political tribalism, integrity, and the danger of assuming that outward religious practice necessarily means our beliefs and actions are aligned with Christ.00:00 Nazi To Blessed00:53 Saints And Politics02:52 Early Life In Italy03:33 Catholic Nazi Dissonance06:05 Breaking With Nazism07:07 Underground Paper Il Ribelle08:32 Capture And Martyrdom08:58 How Martyrs Are Formed10:27 Prayer Lord Set Us Free11:10 Reading The Prayer14:16 Integrity And Survival16:51 Warning And BenedictionFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

AI data centers are becoming one of the strangest bipartisan issues in American politics, and I think Catholics should be paying attention.In this episode of Fully Human, I look at the environmental and human costs of AI data centers, why opposition to them is bringing together people across the political spectrum, and what Catholic teaching actually says about caring for creation.Drawing on Pope Francis, Pope Benedict XVI, Laudato Si’, and the Church’s critique of the “technocratic paradigm,” I argue that environmentalism shouldn’t be dismissed as a partisan or “woke” concern. Caring for our common home is deeply connected to human dignity, our responsibilities to future generations, and our obligations as Christians.00:00 Bipartisan AI Backlash01:39 Why Data Centers Harm02:44 Catholic Duty to Creation04:09 Election Politics and NIMBY05:48 Walterboro Victory Story06:59 Laudato Si Warning08:16 Technocratic Paradigm Explained09:43 Benedict and Stewardship10:30 Imperfect Environmentalism12:11 Practical Steps and AI RefusalFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

In this episode of Fully Human, I examine three of the most common arguments I hear against women having the right to vote: that husbands should cast one vote on behalf of the entire household, that women tend to vote for the “wrong” political party, and that women’s suffrage supposedly led to abortion, contraception, and other social changes.I look at why I don’t think these arguments hold up logically or theologically, and why Catholic ideas about marriage, male headship, mutual submission, human dignity, and the common good don’t require taking political rights away from women.Ultimately, I think the question is much simpler: women don’t need to prove that they vote better than men to deserve a vote. Women are human beings, citizens, and fully capable of intellectual and rational thought.00:00 Why This Matters02:03 From 13 Arguments to 303:14 Household Vote Myth06:18 What Unites Marriage07:29 Voting and Human Value08:54 Headship Is Service10:17 Do Women Need Men?13:27 What About Single Women13:43 They Vote Wrong?14:43 Blaming Suffrage for Liberalism16:08 Little Women Nails ItFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

The pro-life movement in America hasn't always looked the way it does today. In fact, some of its earliest advocates were Catholics whose defense of unborn life was deeply connected to their concern for the poor, marginalized, and vulnerable.After reading Daniel K. Williams' Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade, I was surprised by just how much the movement, and its relationship with American politics, has changed.In this episode, I explore the Catholic roots of the pro-life movement, how abortion became increasingly associated with Republican politics, the impact of the sexual revolution and birth control, and why I believe today's pro-life movement needs to recover a truly consistent life ethic.00:00 Pro Life Origins02:48 Catholic Action Book Club04:28 Choosing a History Book06:24 Science and Personhood09:46 Early Liberal Catholics13:13 Politics and Sexual Revolution16:24 Birth Control Split20:19 Modern GOP Tensions22:24 Consistent Life Ethic24:12 Bipartisan Path ForwardFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

What happens when democracy begins slipping toward tyranny, and what are ordinary Catholics supposed to do about it?In this episode of Fully Human, I explore Plato’s warning in The Republic about the progression from democracy to tyranny and put it in conversation with Catholic social teaching on human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and political participation.I also look at why Catholics cannot simply retreat from politics when government becomes unjust or authoritarian. Through the examples of saints and blesseds like Pier Giorgio Frassati, Jerzy Popiełuszko, Franz Jägerstätter, and others who resisted fascism, communism, and political oppression, I explore what courageous Catholic citizenship can look like, even when we have very little political power ourselves.00:00 Catholic Teaching on Government01:42 Plato and the Common Good03:48 Why We Live in Democracy06:11 Democracy Sliding to Tyranny08:06 After Tyranny Wreckage09:15 Numbness and Sanewashing13:53 Saints Under Totalitarianism14:39 Virtue Makes Democracy Work17:42 Faithful Citizenship Framework20:46 Saints Who Resisted Regimes23:13 Franz Jägerstätter’s Witness27:31 What We Can Do NowFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/⁠Eliza Monts on Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzR⁠Eliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101⁠#catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching

What does it mean to be human in the world of AI? Why should we recognize that every human being has equal value? What does Catholic Social Teaching have to do with this? In the inaugural Fully Human show episode, speaker, Substack bestseller, and Penguin Random House author Eliza Monts shares her “pro-human manifesto” of what the Catholic Church teaches about the inherent worth of every single human being alive.00:00 Industrial Revolution Misery00:41 Rerum Novarum Begins01:36 Romanticism Then and Now02:51 Welcome to Fully Human03:45 Why This Podcast Exists05:46 Episode Roadmap07:16 State of the Union 202610:46 Attacks on Human Dignity12:28 AI and Human Worth13:11 Why Humans Matter15:11 Imago Dei and Pope Leo19:04 Fully Human Manifesto21:27 Seamless Garment Teaching23:19 Reading the AI Encyclical25:38 Romans Benediction OutroFully Human exists thanks to the support of people like you. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and consider becoming a paid subscriber for access to Eliza’s best writing: elizawritesthings.substack.com.Eliza Monts on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizawritesthings/Eliza Monts on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JQzX1pCVaXOhKuNIp3hzREliza Monts on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fully-human-with-eliza-monts/id6812877101catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicsocialteaching