Phil on the US-UK-Vatican "Special Relationship"; Leila: surrogacy is evil and already illegal; bees & books!

Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's document on AI

Note Bene: We read the entire encyclical and we didn’t use AI. And we don’t use AI to draft, write, or edit our own writing! Show Notes: Full text of the encyclical [https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html] Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah’s remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica humanitas” [https://www.anthropic.com/news/chris-olah-pope-leo-encyclical] The importance of Pope Leo’s first encyclical [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/importance-pope-leos-first-encyclical/](Phil’s preview of the encyclical— posted before it appeared) Pope Leo breaks new ground with encyclical on AI [https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=69541] (News/Analysis by Phil, posted on the day it appeared) No, the just-war tradition is not ‘outdated’ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/no-just-war-tradition-is-not-outdated/](Phil’s comment on the encyclical’s treatment of just-war theory, which we didn’t even have a chance to discuss in our podcast) Promise and problems in Magnifica Humanitas [https://pflawler.substack.com/p/promise-and-problems-in-magnifica] (Phil’s reflections a few days after publication) Other interesting analyses of the encyclical: Idols of the Valley [https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/idols-of-the-valley] (Yuhal Levin in New Atlantis) Pope Leo Isn’t Standing Athwart the Singularity [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/opinion/pope-leo-ai-encyclical.html](Ross Douthat in the New York Times) (archived here [https://archive.ph/2UTkP]) Between Thomas Aquinas and Silicon Valley: The first encyclical of Leo XIV [https://philosophia-perennis.com/2026/05/26/zwischen-thomas-von-aquin-und-silicon-valley-die-erste-enzyklika-leos-xiv/] (David Berger) More on what we recommend on Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law in general: Whether the intellect is a power of the soul? [https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1079.htm]Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologiae Divini Illius Magistri [http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121929_divini-illius-magistri.html], encyclical on Christian education, Pius XI (1929); good overview of “the three societies” of flourishing human life. Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching [https://amzn.to/3RttFVU] by Anthony Esolen (affiliate link) Knowledge and Decisions, [https://amzn.to/4dBK6YO] by Thomas Sowell (affiliate link) Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free! Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us! How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

SCOTUS and the abortion pill; Pope Leo and AI

Show Notes: Abortion Drug Makers Admit They Care About Money, Not Women [https://thefederalist.com/2026/05/06/abortion-drug-makers-admit-they-care-about-money-not-women/] by Jordan Boyd On Application for Stay: GENBIOPRO, INC. v. LOUISIANA, ET AL. [https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a1207_21p3.pdf] Why the Left lies about Amber Thurmon [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/p/want-to-know-why-the-left-lies-about?utm_source=publication-search] by Leila M. Lawler (survey of the black box warnings on the abortion pill ingredients) The importance of Pope Leo’s first encyclical [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/importance-pope-leos-first-encyclical/] by Phil Lawler Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free! Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us! How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The SSPX and "the State of Necessity"; Daycare's deceptions; a 250th book for all

Show Notes: The SSPX, the German bishops, and the parable of the two sons [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/sspx-german-bishops-and-parable-two-sons/]by Phil Lawler How A Feminist Info Op Convinced Moms To Leave Their Babies With Strangers Every Da [https://thefederalist.com/2026/05/13/how-a-feminist-info-op-convinced-moms-to-leave-their-babies-with-strangers-every-day/]y by Leila M. Lawler (The Federalist) The government’s war on romance [https://pflawler.substack.com/p/the-governments-war-on-romance] by Phil Lawler The American Book of Fables [https://amzn.to/3PEWz4G] (affiliate link) — beautiful hardcover book, almost 400 pages, written by Matt Mehan and illustrated by John Folley (our son-in-law). If you are interested at all in this book, consider pre-ordering or ordering on the 19th! Doing so greatly increases the visibility. It would make a fantastic Father’s Day gift! Thank you! Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free! Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us! How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

How to think about the origins of the cosmos

Show Notes: The Story of Everything [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13374694/], a documentary - “The Story of Everything takes us on a journey into the origins of humanity and the cosmos, illuminating mankind’s most important scientific discoveries and revealing that everything has been created by a designer.” Leila’s post about Michael Knowles’ interview with Stephen C. Meyer [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/p/open-tabs-intelligent-design-covid] More in-depth information about the origins of the universe and Intelligent Design [https://www.thestoryofeverything.film/downloads-hidden] Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity: Common Experience, the Hierarchy of Being, and Modern Science [https://www.cuapress.org/9780999513477/vestige-of-eden-image-of-eternity/], by Daniel Toma, Department of Biological Sciences at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He earned a PhD in behavioral genetics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Intelligent Universe [https://amzn.to/4dBVrHd] by Fred Hoyle (affiliate link) Darwin’s House of Cards: A Journalist’s Odyssey Through the Darwin Debates [https://amzn.to/4tp5Rzw] by Tom Bethell (affiliate link) Andrew Schmiedicke’s Substack [https://curingcatholicamnesia.substack.com/](Genesis as history) The American Civil War: A Military History [https://amzn.to/4uwTNgx] by John Keegan (affiliate link) Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free! Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us! How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Phil on the US-UK-Vatican "Special Relationship"; Leila: surrogacy is evil and already illegal; bees & books!

The ‘special relationships’ built on pretense (Phil for CatholicCulture) [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/special-relationships-built-on-pretense/] Pope receives Anglican primate, calls for removal of stumbling blocks to Christian unity [https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=69238] The Vatican’s Feting of the First Female Archbishop of Canterbury [https://edwardpentin.substack.com/p/the-vaticans-feting-of-the-first] Shawn McAnally’s viral video: “There’s no Mama” [https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/insight/shane-mcanally-defends-viral-no-mama-clip-amid-criticism/gm-GMC7676A33?gemSnapshotKey=GMC7676A33-snapshot-5] A warranty on your purchase (of a baby) [https://x.com/maurel_olivia/status/2047546969401196691?s=20] — not dystopia but reality Nancy Mace’s bill in the Senate: Protecting Children in Surrogacy [https://mace.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-nancy-mace-introduces-bill-protect-children-sex-offenders-exploiting] (from sex offenders — this is not currently forbidden) Surrogacy is Already Illegal [https://firstthings.com/surrogacy-is-already-illegal/]by Josh Wood, First Things Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free! Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us! How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe [https://leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]