Word on Fire

3 weeks ago | wordonfire.org | Steven Umbrello

On May 22, 2025, the Vatican issued a rare and pointed condemnation—not of a person but of a machine-generated lie. A thirty-six-minute video had circulated online in which Pope Leo XIV appeared to praise Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the controversial revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso. The video, complete with lip-synced movements and papal solemnity, seemed real to the average viewer. But it was a fake.

1 month ago | wordonfire.org | Steven Umbrello

In recent years, nations have poured enormous resources into artificial intelligence (AI) as if engaged in a new arms race. Leaders frame AI as a strategic technology that will confer global power on those who master it​. The US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence warned in 2021 that America was unprepared for the coming AI era and could lose its leadership to China within a decade if it failed to act​. China, for its part, has declared AI a key to national rejuvenation.

1 month ago | wordonfire.org | Steven Umbrello

When Cardinal Prevost chose the name Leo XIV upon his election to the papacy, observers immediately noted the homage to Pope Leo XIII. Over a century ago, Leo XIII ushered in the era of Catholic social teaching withRerum Novarum (1891), an encyclical confronting the injustices and upheavals of the industrial revolution. By taking the name Leo, the new pope signaled that the Church would face today’s transformative technological upheaval with similar courage and clarity.

2 months ago | wordonfire.org | Tod Worner

He was hideous. With an oversized skull that bulged forth frontally with multi-lobed bony protuberances, a chin that jutted rightward dragging his mouth down in a permanent frown, scales and scars dominating half of his face, and awkward wisps of hair pronouncing (and not obscuring) his deformity, John Merrick seemed a monstrosity. Was it any wonder that he was exploited in a London freak show? Was it any surprise he was hunted, harassed, and hounded by brutal street urchins?

2 months ago | wordonfire.org | Matthew Becklo

The massive success of The Chosen—a first-of-its-kind multi-season series about the ministry of Jesus—is spearheading a revival in biblically themed film and TV. The culture, it seems, is shifting in a remarkable way. And now it’s the kids’ turn to join in the revival.  The King of Kings, a new Angel Studios release hitting theaters nationwide on April 11, is being promoted as the first major animated biblical film since 1998’s The Prince of Egypt.