Read Time: 5 min 55 sec | Reading Level: 7th Grade
─────── May 28, 2026 ───────
Happy Thursday!
And happy summer ☀️ Whether you’re already enjoying a bomb pop by the pool or trying to finish the school year strong, we’re thankful to be part of keeping your family informed and focused on Christ.
This week’s Decaf is brought to you by the Teach Me the Faith podcast and by The Voice of the Martyrs.
Today’s story was taken from The Pour Over’s May 27th email and rewritten at a 7th-grade reading level.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.”
Thomas Aquinas
READ | REFLECT | RESPOND
TECHNOLOGY
Tower of B-AI-bel
The Pope has (lots) to say about AI.
On Monday, Pope Leo XIV (that’s “14th” for the non-Roman among us) released a 42,300-word encyclical (think: a big essay about the Catholic Church’s views on an important topic). He called it “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity.” It focused on humanity’s unique “capacity for relationship and love” in the AI era.
Leo compared AI to the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11. Back then, humans tried to prove their power by building a tower to reach heaven and make themselves like God. The Pope asked AI companies to avoid making another Babelly Tower. Instead, they should build up the “common good.”
Monday’s release date was purposeful because 135 years earlier, the previous Pope Leo (Leo XIII) wrote an encyclical on workers’ dignity during the Industrial Revolution. Machines were replacing people in factories, working conditions worsened, and family life changed. The latest Leo thinks history is repeating and sees a need to:
Protect human dignity as machines take over jobs;
Retrain workers displaced by AI;
Ensure humans—not machines—keep control of weapons systems;
Protect children from digital addiction, bullying, and harmful AI content.
What do AI companies think? Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic (one of the world’s biggest AI companies), spoke before the pope’s speech at the Vatican (watch it here). He praised the pope’s ideas and said AI companies need “moral voices” to help value people over profits.
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CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
As the world debates AI, it’s a good moment for personal reflection on technology’s effect on our lives, relationships, and habits. Whatever tools we use, we should use them wisely and in ways that increase the fruit of the Spirit in us.
“Walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh… The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Galatians 5:16, 22-23a (CSB) (read full passage)
READ | REFLECT | RESPOND
Ask your kids what they think about AI and the pope’s papers.
Begin the conversation with some questions.
Have your kids used AI? What for?
What do they like about it? What do they dislike?
What makes them nervous about it? Excited?
What do they think parents or teachers misunderstand about kids and AI?
What do I want to make sure my kids (and I) know in light of this story?
AI makes (usually) correct, compelling information available in the blink of an eye. Those outputs have great uses… but when we make a habit of going to bots, there are side effects. A big one is that we start to value outcomes more than the often challenging process of getting there. It’s in that process that we grow, learn, and build character (James 1:2–5; Romans 5:3–4).
AI reduces life to a sum of outputs. Are we guilty of doing the same thing as parents?
It’s easy to focus on the outcomes of our kids’ lives: quick obedience, good grades, sports successes, etc. But we are called to make disciples of our kids, which means that their character and growth are more important than the outcomes they’re producing.
READ | REFLECT | RESPOND
Audit your family’s (or classroom’s) use of AI. What are your habits? Is the technology serving you, or are you serving it? Does anything need to change? Sharing your own experience with technology’s pros and cons could open the door for great dialogue.
Memorize James 1:2–4, “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (CSB).
Pray for good AI habits in your home and in our world: God of Wisdom, as our world rumbles with new power and opportunities from artificial intelligence, we ask You for wisdom. Give it to executives and elected officials to discern how technology can advance flourishing. Give it to individuals, families, and churches to use—and not be used by—these new tools. And may we always trust You as our ultimate source of wisdom. Amen.
Want more prayers to help you see headlines from an eternal perspective? We’re piloting a text-delivered audio version of Praying the News! To listen and share your feedback, text PRAY to 71989.
CREAM AND SUGAR
Gen Z Word of the Week: Eating a sandwich on the beach just hits different.
Family Fun: Add a little nostalgia to your next family car trip with this playlist of iconic VBS songs from the 90s and 2000s.
Whipped Cream on Top: Stop and smell the roses...
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