system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What does the pope do?

He's just a figurehead, right?
gpt
Figurehead? No sir he leads the entire Catholic church in a very real sense. 

The pope is considered the one man on Earth closest to God, he has the power to set new doctrine, change church stances, call councils and much more.

To give you an idea of the power invested in the papacy there is a belief called infallibility, when the Pope speaks inf an official capacity on church dogma it is literally impossible for him to be incorrect.

And yes there was once a time where the Pope had more tangible power, actually acting as more of a king then spiritual leader, but the office remains one of the oldest of its kind in all of human history and the pope does remain very influential on many levels. His Holiness remains arguably one of the most powerful men on earth, leading a flock of over one billion faithful.