Pope Leo XIV went to Rome last week and told Catholic priests to stop using ChatGPT to write their sermons. That's the leader of 1.4 billion people saying AI can't replace the real thing.
"To give a true homily is to share faith, and AI will never be able to share faith."
That's a direct quote. No fluff, no hedging. The Pope looked at what priests were doing and said cut it out.
And here's the thing—he's right.
I don't care if you're religious or not. The point isn't the theology. It's that the Pope clocked something most people in the AI hype bubble won't admit: there's a difference between generating words and having something to say.
The Roggin Report tested an AI-generated sermon. Panelists said it lacked something. They couldn't quite name it, but they knew it was missing. That's the problem with AI writing—it's technically correct, structurally sound, and completely empty. It reads like a sermon. It sounds like a sermon. But it's not a sermon. It's a rough draft that pretends to have a soul.
The Pope also called out TikTok. Said chasing likes and followers is an "illusion" that passes for spiritual connection. Guy is 85 years old and figured out what most influencers haven't: you can have a million followers and still be alone.
Look, I'm not here to tell you AI is bad. I use it. I write with it. But there's a difference between using a tool and substituting it for the real work. A priest who lets ChatGPT write their Sunday talk is skipping the hard part—the reflection, the struggle, the actual engagement with the text. That's not a sermon. That's a paraphrase.
The Pope gets it. Maybe more people should listen.
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