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A X/Twitter screenshot that reads:
Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex: In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.
Spectro @Spectromachina: Pope, would you please shut the fuck up about matters you do not understand? You’re not an Ai influencer, no one elected you, and you have absolutely no weight in this debate and you’re being used as a mouthpiece to sway public opinion. how many local models do you run?

Pope is quite famously an elected position…
We could debate how fair that election is, but that’s a lost cause with churches anyway. It also certainly isn’t an open, democratic election by any stadard, but again, transparency and democracy have never been their mission statement. I’m also on board with treating the cardinals as nobody (important), but that’s not a literal “nobody” either.
So, yeah, he is elected, and by one of the strangest procedures I’ve ever heard about.
It’s basically the same as a board of directors electing their CEO. You not liking the catholic church doesn’t make the election any less valid.
Ok.