Create encounters, not just content, Pope says to digital missionaries and Catholic influencers

In an ever-evolving era of technological advancement, including the adoption of artificial intelligence, Catholics in the digital space must focus on being authentic witnesses rather than providing endless streams of content, Pope Leo XIV said at the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers, which drew more than 1,000 participants from more than 70 countries to Rome and the Vatican for a series of talks and other spiritual, ecumenical and cultural events on 28 and 29 July.

Arriving after the conclusion of the Jubilee Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday 29 July, the Pope said Catholics have ‘a duty to work together to develop a way of thinking and a language of our time, that gives voice to love.’

‘It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter between hearts,’ he said. ‘This will entail seeking out those who suffer and need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds, get back on their feet and find meaning in their lives.’

‘Peace be with you! How much we need peace in these times marked by hostility and war, which in turn calls us to give witness to the greeting of the Risen Lord: “Peace be with you,”’ he said.

Peace needs to be sought, proclaimed, and shared everywhere, both in the places where we see the tragedy of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of life and the desire for introspection and the spiritual life.

The Church’s mission of proclaiming peace to the world, he continued, is entrusted to young people celebrating the Jubilee, especially those who ‘nourish Christian hope in social networks and online spaces’.

‘Peace needs to be sought, proclaimed, and shared everywhere, both in the places where we see the tragedy of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of life and the desire for introspection and the spiritual life,’ the Pope said.

Another challenge to their mission is the need to look for ‘the suffering flesh of Christ’, especially in those they meet online absorbed in ‘a new culture’ that is ‘deeply characterised and formed by technology’.

Urging digital missionaries and influencers ‘to ensure that this culture remains human,’ Pope Leo warned that science and technology influence not just how we live but even ‘how we understand ourselves and how we relate to God and others’.

Not a brand but a blessing

In fact, digital spaces and discourse will be instrumental in fostering a more synodal and missionary Church because of the internet’s global reach and its possibilities for collaboration, some speakers said the previous day, Monday 28 July, during a morning event that opened the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers.

Jesuit Fr Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, told the influencers, ‘You are not a brand, you are a blessing.’

You don’t have to sell yourself. You just have to let yourself be moved by what dwells within you and offer a possible glimmer of light.

‘Your profile is not a shop’s window display, it is a possible place of encounter, of wounds, of healing, of shared tears, of stubborn hope, of provocations that make you think, of silences full of expectation,’ he said.

‘You don’t have to sell yourself,’ he said. ‘You just have to let yourself be moved by what dwells within you and offer a possible glimmer of light.’

That is why all content creators must be careful about two things, Father Spadaro said.

‘The first is that sometimes we run the risk of thinking that a post works if it is somehow ‘sexy’ or demonstrates a ‘physique du rôle,’ that is, a specific role or persona usually associated with acting or performance, he said.

‘There is no such thing as a Catholic ‘physique du rôle,’’ he said to applause. That is just a display of power — ‘the power of attraction, in whatever form, which always risks being seductive and thus nullifying the very message that one intends to communicate in good faith.’

The second challenge is to understand that Christian witness is not demonstrated by ‘bombarding people with religious messages,’ he said. ‘No, that’s just indoctrination, just ideologization.’

‘Being a Christian online today means being in the places of real life, even the hard, dirty, tiring places, not fleeing from complexity, not shouting slogans, not looking for enemies to feel strong, but welcoming, understanding, creating bonds,’ he said.

A real ministry in the world

A number of participants said that dedicating a Jubilee to the Church’s influencers and content creators feels ‘historic’—a sign of the Vatican’s increasing support for this dynamic new form of mission.

One participant, San Martin, said that what struck her the most about the gathering was the beauty of ‘seeing influencers greet one another’. There was no sense of competition or comparisons, just people excited to be meeting for the first time in ‘real life’.

She said she’d heard people say to each other, ‘“I’ve been watching you. I’ve been learning from you. I’ve been evangelised by you. Can I hug you?” And that has truly been incredible.’

If you’re just yourself, if you’re an authentic witness to the beauty, truth and goodness of our Gospel ... then people are attracted to that.

Katie Prejean McGrady, an author, podcaster and radio host on Sirius XM’s The Catholic Channel, told CNS that her ‘digital mission playbook’ is guided by Blessed Carlo Acutis, who encouraged people to be the original person God made, not photocopies.

‘If you’re just yourself, if you’re an authentic witness to the beauty, truth and goodness of our Gospel,’ she said, then ‘people are attracted to that. They want to talk to you about that.’

McGrady said it is ‘so cool that the Church is acknowledging that this is a group of people doing a real thing and a real ministry in the world’ by hosting a dedicated Jubilee.

‘I think in a hundred years, people are going to talk about the Jubilee of 2025 and how this was the first time the Church engaged with this group of missionaries,’ she said. While the individual people attending the events won’t end up in history books, ‘this Jubilee and this conversation will’ because of how it will continue to impact the Church.