Integral Human Development in the Digital Age: Social Catholicism and Christian Humanism

Maritain’s integral humanism was an important source of inspiration for the Catholic social doctrine, including Pope Paul VI’s populorum progressio. The call for a “new humanism” has been repeated by later popes and, more recently, by Pope Francis. In this contribution the significance of Christian humanism in the present digital age is expounded by drawing on the more recent works of Joseph Ratzinger, Charles Taylor, and Paul Valadier. From a Christian humanist perspective, integral human development includes the reflective and critical use of (digital) technologies. Since these technologies are not self-governing, the development, implementation, and use of these technologies must be informed by rigorous thinking about the highest goods, values, ends, means, and priorities. Social Catholicism can safeguard the ideas, values, and practices that are conducive to integral human development but also criticize dehumanizing ideas and practices that undermine such development. It can accept the challenge of keeping the tradition of the care for wisdom, the soul, the stranger, and the world alive in the digital age.