When you stop to think of it, historically people have told their secrets to the church, now they also tell them to AI. There is some kind of relation there, the power that people willingly give to an organization. The Ads are coming so I guess people will start to think about it a bit more.
The article seems to be overreacting to a small part of Pope Leo's talk. It seems to me his real point was that using AI to hasten writing homilies leads priests to treat this work as busy work instead of thoughtful, focused work.
The mind virus will not stop spreading, making corporations do your critical thinking is not a good path. People will become dependent on a subscription service for everyday life.
No priest will feed sufficient context about their community into the context window - even if they were skilled enough to do so, unless the model was locally hosted, doing so would be a violation of their vows of silence.
Good homilies are written with the particular community in mind. If it were more effective to write a homily for a generic public, the Vatican would have started publishing standard homilies long ago.
LLMs are amazing, I love them, but he is right. When it comes to interacting with your fellow humans, using AI just sucks the point and meaning out of life. If we wanted to know what Claude thought, we’d ask him. Don’t be a mouthpiece for AI.
Not defending the use of AI, but plenty of people who grew up going to Mass on Sunday know that priests often recycle old homilies, deliver lazily written homilies or homilies that were clearly pulled from the internet, or just skip them if they couldn't think of anything that week or are running late for something.
Absolute worst was when an intelligent priest put in incredible effort, only for it to go over the heads of the yokels in their parish who want a simpler homily.
There's an interesting parallel here with code generation. The best code written with AI assistance still requires someone who deeply understands what they're building. The AI is a tool for expression, not a replacement for thought.
A homily written by someone who spent the week reflecting on their community's struggles will always be more meaningful than a polished AI-generated one, even if the grammar is worse. The value of a sermon isn't in the prose quality — it's in the authenticity of someone who actually cares about the people listening.
Francis is basically saying: the medium is the message. If you outsource the thinking, you're outsourcing the caring.
Long before AI era I read an article about homilies exchange online forum in Poland. The priests spoke how they struggle to come up with a fresh content every week for Sunday masses. AI is not the source of the problem, it's just an attempt at a solution.
There’s a Paul Theroux short story about a defrocked priest who makes a living writing sermons for other priests. They would mail their chosen topic or occasion and include the payment, and he’d send them a beautifully written sermon that’d make them popular in their parishes. Now AI is coming for the correspondent-priest’s job!
The article barely touches on this subject, but the sentiment is nonetheless correct.
The problem with using an AI to write something so intimate and context-specific is that it cannot perform as the priest's highest and best abstraction. Instead, it will slavishly follow instructions and risk tunnelling the priest into a worldview and message that subtly betrays his congregation.
I recently wrote about how modern legal tech stacks can do the same using the infamous Digital Research / IBM non-disclosure agreement as an example: https://tritium.legal/blog/redline
If we habitually reduce our context to the lowest-common window ingestible by an AI, yes we may lose a bit of humanity, but more importantly we'll just do a worse job.
My old-school protestant pastor started with an AI disclaimer in the sermon yesterday. What a time to be alive!
I don't know what to do with my double standard here.
It seems totally normal and expected that I would outsource aspects of my job solving business software problems to AI, but the idea of my spirituality and cultural experience (music, movies, art, etc) being someone else's business problem to be outsourced and optimized by AI is so gross.
Before preaching it to others, the writing of a homily or sermon first needs to affect the heart of the one delivering it. Such heart-work is exceedingly difficult if not impossible with AI.
> But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.
> A timeless interval was spent in doing that.
> And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.
> But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.
> For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.
> The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.
IMO, any (important) writing you expect other humans to consume should be your own writing. I think it's kind of disrespectful to outsource your voice to AI but expect people to read it like it's yours. Why should I put in time to read if you're not putting in time to write?
My parish priest told me he uses AI to edit newsletter posts. He didn't say he used it to write. And he mentioned using Magesterium.ai, which is a chatbot trained on a pretty conservative Catholic corpus (eg, it knows almost nothing about the Catholic Worker movement).
One thing I appreciate in our diocese is that the priests are encouraged to deliver their homilies without a written script. I think that is very wise, as it forces them to preach from instinct and heart, not from a script, either AI or human written.
Score Breakdown
+0.29
PreamblePreamble
Medium A: Advocacy for human dignity in priestly practice F: Framing AI as tool that should not replace human judgment
Editorial
+0.25
Structural
+0.15
SETL
+0.16
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Editorial content advocates for human agency and intellectual responsibility in religious practice, aligning with UDHR emphasis on human dignity and freedom of thought.
+0.32
Article 1Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood
Medium A: Affirms equal dignity of all people through emphasis on human agency
Editorial
+0.30
Structural
+0.20
SETL
+0.17
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Content supports premise that all persons possess inherent dignity through emphasis on human judgment and personal responsibility in priestly vocation.
+0.23
Article 2Non-Discrimination
Low F: Frames human intellectual capacity as non-discriminatory value
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.15
SETL
+0.10
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through emphasis on human cognitive abilities without discrimination based on technological capacity.
+0.13
Article 3Life, Liberty, Security
Low
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.10
SETL
+0.09
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Right to life not directly addressed in observable content; minimal relevance.
+0.08
Article 4No Slavery
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Slavery/servitude not addressed; minimal relevance to content.
+0.05
Article 5No Torture
Low
Editorial
+0.05
Structural
+0.05
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Torture/cruel treatment not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.08
Article 6Legal Personhood
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Right to legal personality not directly addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.13
Article 7Equality Before Law
Low A: Advocating for equal treatment of all persons in access to opportunity
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.10
SETL
+0.09
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through general emphasis on equal human capacity and opportunity in priestly role.
+0.08
Article 8Right to Remedy
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Right to remedy/justice not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.08
Article 9No Arbitrary Detention
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Arbitrary detention not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.08
Article 10Fair Hearing
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.05
SETL
+0.07
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Fair trial/due process not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.05
Article 11Presumption of Innocence
Low
Editorial
+0.05
Structural
+0.05
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Criminal law/presumption of innocence not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.03
Article 12Privacy
Medium A: Editorial content protects human cognitive autonomy P: Structural tracking practices may infringe privacy
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
-0.10
SETL
+0.19
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Editorial advocacy supports privacy of human thought; structural concerns about data collection offset positive editorial messaging.
+0.29
Article 13Freedom of Movement
Medium P: Free news access enables freedom of movement in information space
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.25
SETL
-0.11
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Structural provision of free-access news content supports freedom of movement through information networks.
+0.10
Article 14Asylum
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.10
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Right to seek asylum not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.10
Article 15Nationality
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.10
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Nationality rights not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.10
Article 16Marriage & Family
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.10
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Marriage/family rights not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.13
Article 17Property
Low A: Advocates for protection of human intellectual property (thought/judgment)
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.10
SETL
+0.09
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through protection of human intellectual autonomy in thought generation.
+0.42
Article 18Freedom of Thought
High A: Advocates for freedom of conscience through emphasis on human judgment F: Frames AI use as contrary to authentic conscience formation
Editorial
+0.40
Structural
+0.25
SETL
+0.24
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Strong editorial alignment with freedom of thought/conscience through message that priests should use intellectual faculties rather than delegate to AI.
+0.47
Article 19Freedom of Expression
High A: Advocates for freedom of opinion/expression through human intellectual engagement P: Structural provision of news platform enables information expression
Editorial
+0.45
Structural
+0.30
SETL
+0.26
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Strong alignment: content advocates that homilies (expressions of faith/opinion) should originate from human intellect; structural support through free access to news platform.
+0.29
Article 20Assembly & Association
Medium A: Advocates for freedom of association/assembly through human community engagement
Editorial
+0.25
Structural
+0.20
SETL
+0.11
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through emphasis on human engagement in religious community life and authentic interpersonal faith communication.
+0.18
Article 21Political Participation
Low A: Advocates for participation in religious/institutional governance
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.15
SETL
+0.10
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through framing priests as active participants in faith community rather than passive AI users.
+0.18
Article 22Social Security
Low
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.15
SETL
+0.10
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Social security/welfare rights not directly addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.13
Article 23Work & Equal Pay
Low A: Advocating for meaningful work/occupation by priests
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.10
SETL
+0.09
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through emphasis on priests engaging in authentic intellectual labor rather than delegating to technology.
+0.13
Article 24Rest & Leisure
Low
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.10
SETL
+0.09
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Rest/leisure rights not directly addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.29
Article 25Standard of Living
Medium P: Structural free access to news information supports standard of living/education
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.25
SETL
-0.11
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild structural alignment through provision of free educational/informational content; editorial does not directly address welfare rights.
+0.29
Article 26Education
Medium P: Free access platform supports education/human development A: Editorial advocates for human intellectual development
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.25
SETL
-0.11
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through emphasis on human intellectual development (priests should use their brains) and structural support for educational access.
+0.15
Article 27Cultural Participation
Low A: Advocates for participation in cultural/religious life
Editorial
+0.15
Structural
+0.15
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through framing authentic priestly participation in faith community cultural expression.
+0.10
Article 28Social & International Order
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.10
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
International social/legal order not addressed; minimal relevance.
+0.18
Article 29Duties to Community
Low A: Advocating for duties/responsibilities of human actors in community
Editorial
+0.20
Structural
+0.15
SETL
+0.10
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Mild alignment through framing priests' responsibility to exercise human judgment in fulfilling their communal role.
+0.10
Article 30No Destruction of Rights
Low
Editorial
+0.10
Structural
+0.10
SETL
0.00
Combined
ND
Context Modifier
ND
Prevention of UDHR subversion not directly addressed; minimal relevance.