thezvi.substack.com/p/rtmh-pope-leos-magnifica-humanitas
1 correction found
Do not seek to eliminate suffering or its causes.
This overstates and misstates paragraph 120. The encyclical says it is right to alleviate suffering; it argues against denying or trying to eliminate suffering entirely, not against addressing suffering or its causes.
Full reasoning
In Magnifica Humanitas, Leo does not tell readers not to address suffering or its causes.
Just before paragraph 120, paragraph 118 explicitly says: "While it is right to strive to alleviate the suffering that marks human life". Then paragraph 120 says suffering should not be denied or suppressed, and that "to eliminate suffering entirely" would extinguish love and desire.
So the post's summary changes the meaning in two ways:
- It drops the Pope's explicit statement that alleviating suffering is right.
- It turns a warning against eliminating suffering entirely or refusing to integrate it into human life into a blanket claim against eliminating suffering or its causes.
That is a materially different claim from the text of the encyclical.
1 source
- Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026)
Paragraph 118: "While it is right to strive to alleviate the suffering that marks human life..." Paragraph 120: "human wisdom teaches us not to deny or suppress it, but to integrate it. To eliminate suffering entirely would mean, in the end, extinguishing love and desire as well."