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Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical – Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the time of Artificial Intelligence.

Also available in Spanish 

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Available now!

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical – Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the time of Artificial Intelligence.

Also available in English

When checking out please note when picking shipping options:

USPS Media Mail has the best rate, but transit times vary by destination, **with no guaranteed delivery date** and UPS Ground is the fastest normally arrives in 1-5 business days.

Available now in stock!

Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV underlines a deep understanding of our magnificent humanity in the face of the challenges and successes of artificial intelligence.

This encyclical was poignantly signed on the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's seminal encyclical in response to the upheaval of rapid industrialization, Rerum Novarum. Like his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV provides a response to the social, moral, and theological questions raised by the technological advances of our day. 

Ascension’s edition of Magnifica Humanitas features:

• The full official text of this work written by Pope Leo XIV
• A foreword written by Arthur C. Brooks, PhD.
• An afterword written by Fr. Mike Schmitz
• Carefully designed pages to make each page readable, organized, and inviting

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Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, speaks directly to one of the most urgent questions of our time: What does it mean to remain fully human in the age of artificial intelligence? With moral clarity and pastoral depth, the first American pope offers a compelling Christian response to the rise of digital technocracy and power, showing how faith, reason, and the rich tradition of Catholic social teaching can guide society through rapid technological change.

Drawing on Scripture, Church history, and the social teaching of the modern papacy, Leo XIV explores how AI is reshaping work, education, family life, politics, warfare, and public truth. While acknowledging the remarkable potential of AI, he warns against systems that reduce people to data points, labor units, or instruments of control, and offers a hopeful vision rooted in dignity, solidarity, justice, and the common good. Both intellectually substantial and accessible to general readers, Magnifica Humanitas is an essential book for Catholics, Christians, ethicists, and anyone concerned about the human future.

• A landmark papal reflection on AI and human dignity 
• Grounded in Scripture and Catholic social teaching 
• Addresses work, surveillance, misinformation, education, war, and family life 
• Combines theological depth with a clear, approachable writing style 
• Offers a hopeful Christian vision for the future of technology

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Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical letter is a resounding call to uphold the dignity of each human person and to seek the common good in the face of the promises and challenges of AI technology. The pontiff roots his presentation of our “magnificent humanity” in the theological soil of Catholic Social Doctrine, which rests on the dignity of the human person made in the image and likeness of God.  

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This book is the culmination of years of research and planning from sources in multiple languages and countries, and it includes: 

• A complete biography of the first pope from the United States, including his family history, his work as an Augustinian priest, and his time later as a bishop and cardinal 
• An investigation across diverse sources that reveals the ten issues closest to the heart of Robert Francis Prevost
• The challenges and signs of hope facing Pope Leo XIV
• The first global report on the state of the Catholic Church

The election of Leo XIV is one of the most surprising historical events in the recent history of the Catholic Church. Through this book, Catholics and all people of good will understand why he was chosen as Bishop of Rome

The smoke clears. The world watches. A name is announced. A man steps forward and the earth’s gaze falls upon him.

We have a Pope! And his name is Leo XIV.

But who is this 266th successor to St. Peter? What is the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost’s vision for the Church, and what impact will his papacy have on Catholics and on the world?

Veteran Catholic journalist and historian Matthew Bunson offers the first authoritative portrait of the new Holy Father. With unmatched access, deep sources in Rome, and a reputation for integrity and insight, Bunson delivers a compelling, richly textured narrative of the new pope’s life, beliefs, and improbable journey to the Chair of St. Peter.

In this comprehensive and deeply satisfying account, you will discover:

• His birth at Mercy Hospital and early life in Dolton, just outside South Side Chicago
• His classic American Catholic upbringing, from the moment the legacy institutions began to decline
• Suburban Chicago as the quintessential microcosm of the Church in America
• The Augustinian intellectual heritage, and the sketches of the Augustinian saints in his pectoral cross
• Peru as a place of mission: its geography, culture, and the history of Catholicism in northwest South America
• Leo as a fully American pope shaped by both the U.S. and Latin AmericaCardinal Prevost’s Vatican career culminating in his appointment as prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops
• His relationship with Pope Francis, and early decisions that signal a desire to place himself within the Church’s tradition

Accessible, informative, and rooted in journalistic rigor and an intimate understanding of the Church, Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the man inside the white cassock—and the moment in which he will reign.

The election of Pope Leo XIV signals a defining moment for the Catholic Church. As he steps onto the world stage, the first pontiff ever to hail from the United States inherits the throne of St. Peter, the legacy of Pope Francis, and the challenges of a rapidly changing Church.

In Pope Leo XIV, veteran Vatican correspondent Christopher White delivers an authoritative account of the conclave that shaped this momentous transition, the forces that propelled Pope Leo XIV to the papacy, and the vision he brings to the Church’s future. Drawing on exclusive reporting and expert analysis, White examines the potential impact of Pope Leo XIV's leadership on Catholicism’s governance, doctrine, and engagement with pressing global issues. He also explores how the vision of Pope Francis’s successor may shape the Church’s role in contemporary society amid unprecedented uncertainty and change.

Timely and insightful, with sharp analysis, personal experience, and vivid storytelling, Pope Leo XIV offers an essential look at the past, present, and future of a papacy that exerts a major influence on 1.4 billion Catholics and the world itself.

A new era begins for the Church with Pope Leo XIV—Augustinian friar, missionary for distant lands, bishop among the poor, prefect entrusted with appointing pastors throughout the world, and now successor to Peter.

Above all, Leo XIV has proven to be a tireless seeker of Truth. His vocation was born of that restlessness of heart to which Saint Augustine gave expression: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” In the Augustinian spirit, Leo XIV has trusted the power of the gospel to shape his style: humble yet firm, quiet yet courageous. His path has been marked by service, listening, and quiet fidelity—a shepherd who walks with seekers, unafraid of their questions, patient in accompaniment.

So, what does Pope Leo XIV want us to know in order to live the gospel more faithfully? How can we ensure that Christ remains the center of our lives? Leo XIV invites us to live a faith that is alive and open to the world. The following pages explore ten themes inspired by his first Urbi et Orbi blessing as Peter’s successor, given on May 8, 2025. Here we’re invited to embrace a posture of listening from one who has made that his life’s work.

The Holy Family serves as the pattern and model for marriage and family, demonstrating what these are, as well as the correct understanding of masculinity and fatherhood, femininity and motherhood, babies and children. God knew the great confusion and diabolical social messiness that would occur in modern times. Now is the time to be consecrated to the Holy Family!

This is why we need another 33 Day consecration book to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Holy Family. They’re the blueprint and model for happiness and holiness. With their guidance, and by consecrating ourselves to them, we can help restore order and common sense to a straying civilization.

33 Days to the Holy Family follows a pattern similar to all the other 33 Day consecration books. It’s a book for everyone — individuals, families, parishes, prayer groups, etc. It’s not an academic book but presents an easy formula for you to follow daily. Once you pick a start date, simply follow the instructions for each day until you reach Day 33 and consecrate yourself to the Holy Family.  

As you embark on this 33-day journey, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and inspire you to always live under the watchful care of the Holy Family. Let the journey begin!

Author: Father Donald H. Calloway, MIC

248 pages.

Size 5-1/8" X 8-1/2"

Paperback

Marian Father James Cervantes, MIC, presents a devotional to spend each day with Jesus, The Divine Mercy. Let these words touch the heart. Mercy originates from the heart of Jesus and is intended to arrive in the hearts of men. Jesus says, "When you reflect upon what I tell you in the depths of your heart, you profit more than if you had read many books." (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 584) So let these words reach, resound, and reverberate in the depths of our hearts. And in reflecting and meditating upon them, we can hope to receive an abundance of graces.

Saint Faustina says, "I want to make the best possible use of the present moment, faithfully accomplishing everything that it gives me" (Diary, 1400). Now is the time for mercy. These words are meant for you, right here, and right now, believe it or not, even in the midst all your struggles and difficulties.

Author: Father James Cervantes, MIC

112 pages.

Size 4-3/4" X 7-1/2"

Paperback

The Catholic bishops of the United States voted to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. What does this mean?

Theologian Dr. Robert Stackpole offers a refresher on the devotion, diving deep into the revelations of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Our Lord wished for everyone to welcome His offer of love; to return His love with love; to make reparation to His Heart for our many failures to return His love; to place all our trust in His Heart; to honor Him through the sign and symbol of His Heart; and to grow to love His Heavenly Father more and more — for our Lord's Sacred Heart is the living human reflection of the Father's eternal love for us all.

Jesus also told St. Margaret Mary that He desires to pour out upon humanity all the treasures of grace that flow from His Sacred Heart, and to inspire Catholics to work to establish the social reign of His Heart over families and nations everywhere.

In His Heart, Jesus is fashioning saints on fire with love for Him so that, even if the whole world seems to have forsaken our Lord, and all hope for the earthly triumph of the Catholic Faith seems to have vanished, yet still they will love Him with all their hearts, obey Him to the end, and hope in Him until His return.

The devotion to the Heart of Jesus, therefore, is all about fashioning saints in the Church filled with this heroic love. Walk through these chapters step-by-step, and rediscover the one Radiant Heart whose Light can never be put out, that forever shines amid the world's darkness, and that truly is "more brilliant than the sun."

Author: Robert Stackpole, STD

272 pages.

Size 5-1/2" X 8-1/2"

Paperback

The United Saints of America, you ask? Well, yes. The “big S” saints — those raised to the altar by the Catholic Church — have traversed our land, sea to shining sea, from St. Isaac Jogues in the East to St. Junípero Serra in the West. 

There are, however, hundreds of “little s” saints of equal grace, if not equal title, who have left holy footprints all across this land. They helped lay a foundation that has made America “one nation under God” and, in the process, grown an initially persecuted religion — the Catholic faith — to one with 72 million members, making it the single largest religious denomination in the United States.

What unites all of them, big S or small, is a great sense of mission and a fierce desire to bring the Good News to a foreign land, most frequently under the guidance of the first bearer of that Good News, missionary extraordinaire, Mother Mary of Nazareth.

To mark our nation's 250th birthday, join veteran journalist and passionate storyteller Peggy Stanton on a tour of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, in search of the Mother’s land and her famous and not-so-famous shrines, those least recognized but with wonderful, intriguing back stories.

Author: Peggy Stanton

288 pages.

Size 6" X 9"

Paperback

Biography pamphlet of Archbishop Fulton Sheen 

Why is it, asks Bishop Fulton Sheen, that one hears so often the expression Go to hell! and almost never the expression "Go to heaven!" Here, at his most penetrating, challenging, and illuminating best is Bishop Sheen with his answer, in a book that breathes new meaning into the truths about heaven and hell, and new life into the concepts of faith, tolerance, love, prayer, suffering, and death.

Beginning with "The First Faint Summons to Heaven," Sheen shows how unpopular it is today to be a true Christian, and describes the struggle for living our faith amid the disorders of our times.  Keenly aware of evil in the myriad forms it takes in today's world, Bishop Sheen writes about the constant battle man faces with the "seven pallbearers of character" - pride, avarice, envy, lust, anger, gluttony and sloth - linking them with the corrosive forces that never cease in their attacks on the Church and those who earnestly desire to be serious Christians.

In Go to Heaven, a great spiritual teacher and writer, deeply aware of the human and spiritual conflicts being waged in the world, shows us the way to heaven in a most eloquent book, encouraging the reader to choose heaven now, and to understand the "reality of hell."

Format:  Paperback

Size: 8 H x 5.25 w (in)x  0.63 L(in)

Pages: 250

The Mystical Body of Christ captures the theological precision and communicative genius of Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979), whose radio and television broadcasts, including Life Is Worth Living, have reached millions of homes since the 1950s. With more than thirty of his works still in print, Sheen is one of the most beloved Catholic evangelists of all time.

This full-length and fully developed work on the Church as an extension of the Incarnation reveals Sheen’s accessible and theologically astute teaching style in the early years of his ministry. First published in 1935, the book’s themes of the Eucharist as a source of unity for the Mystical Body of Christ—the Church—and the link between the liturgy and works of social justice were echoed in the Second Vatican Council several decades later.

A recent advance in Sheen’s cause for beatification, the healing of a young boy for which there is no medical explanation, will create renewed interest among his admirers and introduce the spirituality of this Catholic icon to a whole new generation of believers

Format: Paperback

• Trim size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches
• Pages 352

When asked, "What's wrong with the world?" G.K. Chesterton famously replied simply, "I am." We want to be happy and yet we often seem to be the source of our own unhappiness, as well as that of others. Even when that is not the case, our lives—as blessed as they may be —have their share of sadness and disappointment. How do we respond? Do we become cynical and try, at all costs, to get as much pleasure as we can? Or do we recognize we were made for more?

In this classic work, Fulton Sheen explains the secret of authentic happiness: being spiritually remade. A genuinely spiritual life, Sheen contends, consists in more than obeying a set of commands, reading the Bible, or even following the example of Jesus. Before all else, it consists in being recreated and incorporated into a new, higher kind of life—the supernatural life of grace—and in being brought into a new kind of spiritual relationship, as a child of God through Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Christianity is not a system of ethics; it is a life. It is not good advice; it is divine adoption. Being a Christian does not consist in just being kind to the poor, going to church, singing hymns, or serving on parish committees, though it includes all of these. It is first and foremost a love relationship with Jesus Christ.

Format: paperback

Size: 8 x 5.31x1.63 (in)

Pages: 208