Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies • Hacker News Board

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#371

Post by jquinby » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

solatic wrote: post #48

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 a…

When I was in formation a couple of years ago, I showed our homiletics instructor a ChatGPT-generated homily for our assigned text. He read through it and put his head on the desk. Then he handed it back to me and said it was as good as good as anything you'd hear from the ambo that Sunday.

By this, he meant that it was ok-but-not-great, and there's a lot of weak preaching out there. And your point is dead on: the text and the assembly are the primary considerations. I preach on the same readings to 4 different masses, but the 4:30 Saturday Vigil folks are a different group than the 11:30 Sunday Morning crowd, so the message is tuned accordingly. Different emphases, different touchstones, differing exhortations, etc.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#372

Post by dfxm12 » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

AdamN wrote: post #334

dfxm12 wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you fear this? Did you consider discussing this with some of the congregation to know for sure ? I don't mean to pick on you personally, but your comment and the parent comment (among others here) both project feelings across wide groups of people in a hasty generalization. Their feelings could be easily confirmed with human connection. I think the article makes it clear the Pope charges priests with knowing t…

I'm an outsider (not Catholic, raised Methodist) who just happens to be attending church this year; I'm not a member. The church is interesting because it's an immigrant church which is truly global (in Berlin with English speaking people from all over the place). 'Fear' is a strong word but I mean it in the same way as I do when talking about reading comments in the Wall Street Journal- I'm afraid by the realization…

I'm an outsider

The Catholic church is universal, so you are not seen that way :). Setting that aside, my comments weren't really about a particular religion, but about not making hasty generalizations.

That said, you don't have to be a member of the same church to discuss things with the people in your community. Again, a large part of what the pope is saying is to be present in your community, which requires maintaining that human to human interaction.

Also, your meaning of "fear" was clear.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#373

Post by lambda » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #362

Brendinooo wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, "faith" is actually an integral component of "the Christian faith". Go read the first part of Acts 4, where a section closes with: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." So...yes! We do believe in a God that can empower average people to speak in above-average ways.

The conversation was as follows: > You have a lot of faith in the qualities of average priests. >> To be fair, faith is the crux of Catholicism. So, in context (which the downvoters seem to have missed), "faith" is being used equivocally here. There a difference between having faith in Christ and his promises and faith in his claims of divinity on the one hand, and having "faith" in a priest or whatever else on the o…

But part of the faith is faith that God can communicate through imperfect mortal vessels.

> Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

> The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Like, that's the whole deal about all of the prophets, popes, priesthood in general. They are all mortal and imperfect, but God still speaks through them.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#374

Post by serial_dev » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:19 PM UTC

This kind of headline is something we could have only imagined as a joke 5 years ago.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#375

Post by lo_zamoyski » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

achierius wrote: post #369

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The conversation was as follows: > You have a lot of faith in the qualities of average priests. >> To be fair, faith is the crux of Catholicism. So, in context (which the downvoters seem to have missed), "faith" is being used equivocally here. There a difference between having faith in Christ and his promises and faith in his claims of divinity on the one hand, and having "faith" in a priest or whatever else on the o…

> authentic Christian faith is not an arbitrary faith in anything you please But he's not talking about an arbitrary faith. He's talking about faith in the capacity of priests -- clearly a relevant subject. And there are, indeed, _preambula fidei_ here: that the priest was taught in seminary, that the priest was approved by the Church, that the priest (through the bishop who ordained them) participates in a line of a…

What? He already admitted that it was a bad joke.

What you've written is simply an intellectual jumble. What does faith (the theological virtue) and acceptance of the apostolic succession have to do with "faith" in the capacity of priests, here, as competent homilists?

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#376

Post by nonford150 » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

fhdkweig wrote: post #310

gwbas1c wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American religions are supposed to stay out of politics, or they risk their tax-exempt status. For me, the disturbing event was shortly before the 2016 event when a Catholic Church in Lowell MA had posters urging people to vote no on marijuana legalization. (In my case, I smelt the politization when I was a teenager so I never continued being Catholic as an adult.)

When my state was debating creating a state-run lottery to fund education projects, my preacher gave a sermon on the evils of gambling. Religions can't realistically stay out of politics because every law can be reinterpreted as a moral argument.

I think that was the previous posters point - any teaching on a moral issue will ultimately have overlap with real world issues.

A homily about gambling would be right in line with religious teachings - the timing is really what is at the apex of your post.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#377

Post by anon291 » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:24 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #305

chasd00 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

all the homilies i've heard were pre-written but ended with current events... like telling the congregation to not vote for Obama heh. My wife was Catholic until that moment, she never went back after that. This was St. Rita's in Dallas TX.

American religions are supposed to stay out of politics, or they risk their tax-exempt status. For me, the disturbing event was shortly before the 2016 event when a Catholic Church in Lowell MA had posters urging people to vote no on marijuana legalization. (In my case, I smelt the politization when I was a teenager so I never continued being Catholic as an adult.)

This is incorrect.

(1) Religions are treated no differently than any other non-profit.

(2) No non-profit may endorse a particular candidate. They are free to comment on particular issues and policies and referenda.

A priest can say 'vote no on marijuana'. They cannot say 'vote yes to Mary Sue because she doesn't like marijuana'.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#378

Post by whatshisface » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

thinkingemote wrote: post #307

gwbas1c wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American religions are supposed to stay out of politics, or they risk their tax-exempt status. For me, the disturbing event was shortly before the 2016 event when a Catholic Church in Lowell MA had posters urging people to vote no on marijuana legalization. (In my case, I smelt the politization when I was a teenager so I never continued being Catholic as an adult.)

The separation of church and state in the US was for the state to stay out of religion. (the US was founded by religious exiles from a state which didn't stay out) Religions are explicitly political but politics shouldn't interfere with religions. To follow your religion means interacting with the outside world. It's not some personally private thing like a harmless badge you wear (although there are American faith c…

Religion is a powerful tool for politicians in sheep's clothing, but God's kingdom is "explicitly" (i.e. stated in the Bible to be) not of this earth.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#379

Post by graemep » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

falcor84 wrote: post #288

graemep wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evidence for that statement? Can you give some examples? Mostly when people say "the Bible is not true" its usually a result of misunderstanding it (e.g. adopting Biblical literalism, not understanding the culture and context, not understanding nuance).

If you don't adopt biblical literalism, then isn't the Bible just true in the same way that Star Wars is true?

No. You interpret each document in context and in culture.

For example, you interpret Genesis as a story that makes a point and tell you something - it is like Jesus's parables (no one same says they are literal!). For example, that all human beings are made in the image of God - as we all look different that is clearly not literal. That we are all related and of one ancestry.

On the other hand you interpret the gospels as deliberately written biographies of Jesus. You interpret the epistles as letter written by their author to a particular person or group of people. You interpret the psalms as lyrics.

It is the traditional way of interpreting the Bible and few people had a problem with it until modern times.

Re: Pope tells priests to use their brains, not AI, to write homilies

#380

Post by hluska » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:46 PM UTC

solatic wrote: post #48

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 a…

Very few priests take vows of silence. The standard vows are chastity, obedience and poverty. Even highly contemplative orders like Trappists don’t make a vow of silence - they practice something called monastic silence but it’s not a vow.

The closest thing is that a priest cannot share anything told during the sacrament of reconciliation. But that’s not so much a vow as just the other side of what Catholics believe is a direct connection to god.