The Fight for Hannah Arendt’s Soul

If not for the humanitarian devastation occasioning the citation, Hannah Arendt might have been entertained to learn that, on October 9, 2025, nearly 50 years after her death, she was invoked by no less an ecclesiastical authority than Pope Leo XIV. Commending the bravery of journalists covering “Gaza, Ukraine, and every other land bloodied by bombs,” the new Pontiff quoted a famous passage from the end of The Origins of Totalitarianism : “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.” ¹ Pope Leo went on to preach, “We are not destined to live in a world where truth is no longer distinguishable from fiction,” exhorting his audience to “be vigilant in order to ensure that technology does not replace human beings, and that information and algorithms that govern it today are not in the hands of the few.” ² Nine months on, the mission is not looking particularly auspicious.