GOOD EVENING!

This is OUT OF SCOPE, your weekly intel to fuel your water cooler conversations, now delivered to your inbox every Monday. If someone forwarded you this email, be sure and subscribe here. 

can we find god in the algorithm?

Yesterday, Pope Leo XIV confirmed the chronically online are capable of higher calling when he welcomed Carlo Acutis into the canon of saints. 

Acutis met all the traditional standards for sainthood: confirmed miraculous healings, an unwavering devotion to his faith during his time on earth, and a considerable number of devotees. 

The methods that brought Acutis to prominence were characteristically of the digital age, however. He earned the nickname "God's influencer" and “patron saint of the internet” for his pioneering use of technology to spread religious messages: coding websites to catalog religious miracles and managing online forums about faith. 

The first saint of the digital age is undoubtedly historic; it marks a significant milestone in the Catholic church finding its footing online. The rate at which people connect, learn, and build community online is valuable for all institutions – secular or sacred. In expressing his gratitude for Acutis’ digital evangelism, the Pope signaled and celebrated that religious communities will continue to form and flourish online.

The internet, however, looks quite different in 2025 than it did at the time of Acutis’s 2006 passing. Esoteric algorithms curate religious experience across #ChristianTok, #MuslimTok, #WitchTok, and on. Conspiracy theories, extremist ideologies, and false prophets abound. AI has elicited bouts of religious psychosis. 

The secular and sacred have always competed for attention, but never in an arena quite like this. We wonder what risk lies in surrendering the contemplative depths of faith to the shallow rapids of social media. Something feels a little incongruent about subjecting religious guidance to the same algorithmic forces that drive consumer behavior, but that’s the world we find ourselves in.

Chat, will the church find a way to foster contemplation and reverence in a fast-moving, irreverent digital ecosystem? We believe it will be a challenge for the ages. But, God knows, the chronically online are capable of miracles. 

LUNCH BREAK

five quick consumption recs for the time between meetings

1. AMERICA’S GOING SOUTH. Vox unpacks the surging affinity for Southern culture.

2. OH, JENNA. Jane Krakowski inherits the role of Mary Todd Lincoln; the ensuing thread proves there are 30 Rock B-plots everywhere for those with eyes to see.  

3. WONDERMIND NO MORE. The rise and fall of a wellness startup by Selena Gomez and family. 

4. IDENTIFYING FLYING OBJECTS How close are we to close encounters? 

5. IS ASTROLOGY FAKE, OR JUST WRONG? Which holds more weight: that which is written in the stars, or that which is written in The NYT?

TREND RAPPORT

viral vocab of the week 

CHAT (n.) –  A term of address for an active or presumed group of onlookers. The term’s origins can be traced to the livestreaming platform Twitch, where popular streamers collectively address their viewers as “chat.” 

ENSHITTIFICATION (n.) –  Profit-driven deterioration of user experience on a virtual platform. 

KHIA (n.) –  A rapper or pop star with no mainstream traction; or, more broadly, an irrelevant nobody. The term’s namesake is rapper Khia Finch, who was caught in the cultural crosshairs when a fan's intense reaction to encountering her went viral. See also: khia asylum.

SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY!

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