Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum

The article evaluates artificial intimacy technologies in light of the human quest for connection, drawing on theology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and pastoral experience. While AI companions promise emotional support and social engagement, they often foster unhealthy attachments, reinforce delusional thinking, and exacerbate mental health struggles. While responsible AI use can support social skills and therapy, these benefits depend on proper technological design and human accompaniment. The article criticizes economic models that exploit users’ emotions and data for profit or power. It also emphasizes the importance of ethical design standards, especially to safeguard vulnerable individuals from manipulation and misleading anthropomorphism. It calls for compliance testing, real-time harm detection, and transparent feedback mechanisms to safeguard vulnerable users. The article also examines the spiritual implications of AI companionship and the risks entailed in deifying seemingly omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent systems. In response to these challenges, the Catholic Church’s sacramental life, communal structures, and emphasis on relational virtue offer a counterbalance to artificial intimacy. The article provides guidance to families, educators, employers, and governments on encouraging embodied experiences that support meaningful interpersonal relationships.

La recente dichiarazione Dignitas Infinita del dicastero per la Dottrina della Fede ha riaffermato la valenza del concetto di dignità umana, che tradizionalmente il magistero interpreta in chiave ontologica, ovvero come valore intrinseco della persona. Attraverso il presente contributo, in primo luogo verranno analizzate quattro correlazioni che emergono dalla dichiarazione stessa, ovvero tra il concetto di dignità e le categorie di Imago Dei, relazionalità, natura e diritti umani. In secondo luogo, considerando in via generale le gravi violazioni della dignità umana elencate nella parte quarta del documento, verrà evidenziata la centralità del nesso vulnerabilità-dignità-cura. L’indagine svolta permette di evincere da una parte come la lettura ontologica non escluda un’interpretazione dinamica e relazionale di questo principio; dall’altra, come il rispetto per la dignità umana così inteso si configuri ultimamente nei termini di un appello alla cura della vulnerabilità.

Este trabalho analisa discrepâncias e críticas aos resultados da Pesquisa Nacional do Aborto 2016 (PNA 2016), visando aprofunda-las e entender os elementos técnicos que as fundamentem numa abordagem bioética. Analisando-se em detalhe a PNA 2016 e PNA 2010, e comparando-se seus dados com diversas outras pesquisas sobre o tema do aborto no Brasil e no exterior, verificou-se um conjunto de elementos que sugerem fortemente que a PNA 2016 se trate de uma estimativa de abortos clandestinos enviesada, com viés de superestimação, por provável indevida inclusão de abortos espontâneos como provocados que podem constituir um custo social razoável. Demonstra-se também uma grande incerteza sobre a incidência do aborto na literatura acadêmica, que apresenta grandes discrepâncias com frequência, apesar da importância de seus dados para bioética e para a saúde publica.

This article presents a comprehensive neuroethical framework that seeks to deepen our understanding of human consciousness and free will, particularly in the context of psychiatric and neurological disorders. By integrating insights from neuroscience with philosophical reflections on freedom and personal identity, the paper examines how various states of consciousness from interoception to self-awareness influence an individual's autonomy and decision-making capabilities. The discussion utilizes a multidimensional, bottom-up approach to explore how neurobiological processes underlie different levels of conscious experience and their corresponding types of freedom, such as "intero-freedom" related to internal bodily states and "self-freedom" associated with higher self-awareness. This stratification reveals the profound impact of neurological conditions on patients' freedom of choice and the ethical implications therein. The insights gained from this analysis aim to inform more tailored and effective treatments for psychiatric patients, emphasizing the restoration of autonomy and respect for their inherent dignity. This work underscores the essential unity of the human person through the lens of neuroethics, advocating for healthcare policies that recognize and enhance the personal freedom of those with mental health challenges.

This article, titled "A Unified Understanding of the Human Mind - A Neuroethical Perspective," examines the evolution of the concept of the human mind in Western thought and its integration with neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, and relational dimensions. The author explores how the understanding of the mind has changed over time, influenced by shifts in philosophical paradigms, scientific advancements, and societal perspectives. The article traces the historical development of the mind's concept, starting from ancient Greece, through influential thinkers like Plato and René Descartes, and progressing to contemporary perspectives. It highlights various philosophical and scientific approaches, including structuralism, functionalism, empiricism, and associationism, which have shaped our understanding of the mind. The article also delves into contemporary integration, where advancements in neuroimaging and the rise of holistic approaches offer a more nuanced understanding of the human mind. The author emphasizes the importance of the relational dimension and the interconnectedness of mental processes, the brain, and the external environment. This integrated perspective can benefit psychiatric treatment and psychological assessments by fostering a holistic approach to mental health. In conclusion, the article advocates for a multidimensional perspective that bridges subjective and objective aspects of human experience, offering promise for theoretical knowledge and practical applications in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience.

Here, we reconsider the historical data, assuming a gamma-ray burst (GRB) as its source. A Supernova correlated with the GRB explains well the fading time observed by the ancient Chinese astronomers in the daytime and the nighttime, while the GRB power law explains the present X-rays and GeV emission of the Crab. On the grounds of a recent understanding of the first episode of binary-driven hypernova GRB (BDHN GRB) in terms of the collapse of a ten solar masses core, we propose the possible identification of the real Supernova event at an earlier time than Chinese chronicles. This work allows a new understanding of the significance of historical astronomical observations, including a fireball due to gamma-ray air shower observation and a plague of acute radiation syndrome, documented with several thousands of victims in the Eurasian area (Egypt, Iraq, and Syria).

Le cadre législatif de l’interruption volontaire de grossesse (IVG) a subi des mutations importantes permettant ainsi son passage d’un acte répréhensible à une liberté consacrée par la loi. Motivé par une décision étrangère remettant en cause l’IVG, un mouvement réclamant « la constitutionnalisation de l’avortement » ré-initie le débat sur le sujet. La constitutionnalisation de l’avortement est un processus juridique qui permet d’inscrire l’IVG dans la Constitution. Si cette démarche est souvent utilisée dans les pays où les droits reproductifs sont remis en cause, ceci n’est pas le cas dans le système juridique français. C’est ainsi que cette démarche s’avère controversée, notamment du fait de ses implications procédurales et substantielles qui mettront en confrontation différents enjeux politiques, éthiques et juridiques.

Solar and lunar eclipses are indeed the first astronomical phenomena which have been recorded since very early antiquity. Their periodicities gave birth to the first luni-solar calendars based on the Methonic cycle since the sixth century before Christ. The Saros cycle of 18.03 years is due to the Chaldean astronomical observations. Their eclipses’ observations reported by Ptolemy in the Almagest (Alexandria of Egypt, about 150 a.C.) enabled modern astronomers to recognize the irregular rotation rate of the Earth. The Earth’s rotation is some hours in delay after the last three millenia if we use the present rotation to simulate the 721 b.C. total eclipse in Babylon. This is one of the most important issues in modern celestial mechanics, along with the Earth’s axis nutation of 18 yr (discovered in 1737), precession of 25.7 Kyr (discovered by Ipparchus around 150 b.C.) and obliquity of 42 Kyr motions (discovered by Arabic astronomers and assessed from the Middle Ages to the modern era, IX to XVIII centuries). Newtonian and Einstenian gravitational theories explain fully these tiny motions, along with the Lense–Thirring gravitodynamic effect, which required great experimental accuracy. The most accurate lunar and solar theories, or their motion in analytical or numerical form, allow us to predict—along with the lunar limb profile recovered by a Japanese lunar orbiter—the appearance of total, annular solar eclipses or lunar occultations for a given place on Earth. The observation of these events, with precise timing, may permit us to verify the sphericity of the solar profile and its variability. The variation of the solar diameter on a global scale was claimed firstly by Angelo Secchi in the 1860s and more recently by Jack Eddy in 1978. In both cases, long and accurate observational campaigns started in Rome (1877–1937) and Greenwich Observatories, as well as at Yale University and the NASA and US Naval Observatory (1979–2011) with eclipses and balloon-borne heliometric observations. The IOTA/ES and US sections as well as the ICRA continued the eclipse campaigns. The global variations of the solar diameter over a decadal timescale, and at the millarcsecond level, may reflect some variation in solar energy output, which may explain some past climatic variations (such as the Allerød and Dryas periods in Pleistocene), involving the outer layers of the Sun. “An eclipse never comes alone”; in the eclipse season, lasting about one month, we can have also lunar eclipses. Including the penumbral lunar eclipses, the probability of occurrence is equi-distributed amongst lunar and solar eclipses, but while the lunar eclipses are visible for a whole hemisphere at once, the solar eclipses are not. The color of the umbral shadow on the Moon was known since antiquity, and Galileo (1632, Dialogo sopra i Massimi Sistemi del Mondo) shows clearly these phenomena from copper color to a totally dark, eclipsed full Moon. Three centuries later, André Danjon was able to correlate that umbral color with the 11-year cycle of solar activity. The forthcoming American total solar eclipse of 8 April 2024 will be probably the eclipse with the largest mediatic impact of the history; we wish that also the scientific impulse toward solar physics and astronomy will be relevant, and the measure of the solar diameter with Baily’s beads is indeed one of the topics significantly related to the Sun–Earth connections.

ABSTRACT Palliative care is a holistically oriented philosophy and a model of medical care for patients with life limiting illness. By nature, its care is team-based and quality of life is its objective for patients and families facing life-threatening illness. This care requires timely and accurate assessment and treatment of physical, psychosocial and spiritual symptoms. Responses to these unmet needs can overwhelm patients and loved ones, robbing them of hope for meaningful relief of suffering. Clinical hypnotic approaches can identify and explore the nature of these needs; however, referrals to the spiritual interventions in palliative care are typically made late in the illness trajectory of such illness. Substantial scientific evidence supports early and open access to spiritually directed therapies, including meditative and cognitive techniques, including clinical hypnosis. Spiritual therapies often integrate aspects of effective psychological and meditative approach therapies. These approaches have many shared qualities, including their cognitive orientation, inward focus, inclusion of some rituals, and shared goals of providing emotional support by focusing upon a safe inner space for mental, psychological, and spiritual exploration during days that are full of challenge and threat. This paper reviews The neuroscientific features of inner consciousness, including its role in suffering and in accessing states of mind that relieve suffering; details salient meditative and hypnotic approaches appropriate for palliative settings of care; discusses core principles and orientations shared by effective approaches; and proposes early integration of hypnotic training as a coping skill and a platform for spiritual exploration, as desired.