This is an element of Leo’s argument, of course—he is, after all, head of the Catholic Church—but he also makes clear that humanity, as he describes it, should be exalted because of its “woundedness” just as much as its “grandeur.” Our limitations are the key to understanding what makes humans special. “We must remember that humanity flourishes not despite limitations, but often through them,” he writes. You don’t even need to believe in God to appreciate that our uniqueness derives from the friction produced by our “vulnerability, suffering and failure.” To smooth out this roughness would be to get rid of what is most essential about us. Along those lines, this is maybe my favorite passage from the encyclical:
The Pope Is Now the World’s Most Famous Humanist – DNYUZTo eliminate suffering entirely would mean, in the end, extinguishing love and desire as well. Those who love and desire cannot avoid passing through trial and suffering; and over the years, we carry within us lessons that leave their mark like scars, the memories of a journey shaped by freedom and failure, dreams and disappointments. It is only thanks to the interplay of these elements that the wonders of the soul occur within us, allowing us to sense the richness of our humanity. To renounce this adventure, both tragic and splendid, in the name of a presumed transcendence of all limits, could mean many things, but it would no longer be human.