The Catholic Church and Digital Ethics: Building a Bridge Between Faith and Advanced Technology

Abstrak

The Catholic Church responds to rapidly developing technology by providing digital ethics principles aligned with Catholic teachings to ensure human dignity is respected. This paper analyses the Church’s implementation of digital ethics values, its approach to protecting the faithful’s privacy, and opportunities for interfaith collaboration on data protection regulations consistent with Catholic ethics. Key findings are: the Church views technology wisely, aware of risks but open to potential benefits; the Church’s digital ethics principles fulfill human dignity and the common good; digital literacy and data privacy protection are critical focus areas; implementing digital ethics values is vital to realizing the Church’s digital era vision; global cooperation across religions is needed to formulate technological regulations aligning with Catholic ethics. Theoretical and practical implications regarding using the Church’s digital ethics as a helpful guide, enriching academic discourse on the Church’s technological modernization role, and testing policy options to translate principles into human dignity-protecting regulations. Further research should examine real-world implementation, effectiveness, and societal impact.