No, iterate is just a helper function to convert a Haskell integer to a Church numeral. If the inputs were directly represented as Church numerals, it wouldn't

No, iterate is just a helper function to convert a Haskell integer to a Church numeral. If the inputs were directly represented as Church numerals, it wouldn't be needed and you'd just replace every instance of iterate n with n itself. I thought this would be evident to someone who had read the article and understood Church numerals, so I didn't go into detail about it. Does that clear up your confusion?