Dedicating a Jubilee to Catholic influencers and content creators feels "historic" as the Vatican shows growing support for digital missionaries and their influence. One thing that was mentioned a lot in a series of talks held at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome on July 28 was the reminder that behind all these online efforts are real people.
More than 1,000 people from more than 70 countries attended. Inés San Martín said that what impressed her most was the beauty of "seeing influencers greet each other. There was no competition or comparisons, just people excited to meet each other for the first time in person. He said he's heard people say to each other, "I've been watching you. I've learned from you. You've evangelized me. Can I hug you?" And that's been really amazing."
Michael Lofton, host of the Reason & Theology podcast, told CNS that he was impressed by the encouragement that digital influencers should not be motivated by personal gain. "We need to speak the truth even if we don't get subscribers, even if we don't get likes," he said. "This is something Jesus did, and sometimes he lost disciples, right? It cost him dearly. But we still need to do it."
"We have to ask ourselves: does this have an impact? Is it constructive? Is it truthful? No, is it going to get me more followers?" he said.
Katie Prejean McGrady, author, podcaster, and radio host on The Catholic Channel of Sirius XM, told CNS that his "digital mission manual" is guided by Blessed Carlo Acutis, who encouraged people to be the original person God created, not photocopies. "If you are yourself, if you are an authentic witness to the beauty, truth and goodness of our Gospel, and you do that by sharing it to your family, talking about your children, talking about what matters most to you" and about your daily life, he said, then "people are drawn to that. They want to talk to you about it."
McGrady said it is "great that the church recognizes that this is a group of people doing something real and a real ministry in the world" by hosting a dedicated Jubilee.
The message of Leo XIV
In a meeting with digital missionaries and Catholic influencers, Pope Leo XIV launched a profound call to renew the Church's mission in digital environments. With a message imbued with cultural responsibility and an evangelical outlook, the Pontiff placed the proclamation of peace at the heart of Christian witness: "Dear brothers and sisters, we began with this greeting: Peace be with you. And how much we need peace in our time, torn by enmity and wars. And how much the greeting of the Risen Lord calls us today to witness: 'Peace be with you' (Jn 20:19). Peace be with us all. In our hearts and in our actions.
From this premise, he defined the essential role of the Church: "This is the mission of the Church: to announce peace to the world. The peace that comes from the Lord, who conquered death, who brings us God's forgiveness, who gives us the life of the Father, who shows us the way of Love".
And that same task, he said, now falls to those who live their faith also in the digital realm: "It is the mission that the Church entrusts today also to you, who are here in Rome for your Jubilee, who have come to renew the commitment to nourish with Christian hope the social networks and digital environments."
Announcing the Good News
The Pope stressed that peace must be announced in every possible space: "Peace needs to be sought, announced, shared everywhere; both in the dramatic scenes of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of existence and the taste for interiority, the taste for spiritual life".
With a clear missionary dimension, he invited us to go out to meet the world: "And today, perhaps more than ever, we need missionary disciples who bring the gift of the Risen One to the world; who give voice to the hope that the living Jesus gives us, to the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:3-8); who reach out wherever there is a heart that hopes, a heart that seeks, a heart that needs. Yes, to the ends of the earth, to the existential ends where there is no hope".
Followers are not everything
The Holy Father also posed a second great challenge: "Always seek the 'suffering flesh of Christ' in every brother and sister we meet on the Internet. Acknowledging that we live in a new culture "profoundly characterized and shaped by technology," the Pope stressed that it is up to each of us "to ensure that this culture remains human."
He insisted that "our mission, your mission, is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do it together. This is the beauty of the 'network' for all of us."
Aware of the impact of artificial intelligence and technological changes, the Pope warned, "Today we find ourselves in a culture in which the technological dimension is present in almost everything, especially now that the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence will mark a new era in the lives of individuals and society as a whole." And he raised the need for discernment and authenticity: "This is a challenge we must face: to reflect on the authenticity of our witness, on our ability to listen and speak, and on our ability to understand and be understood."
Network repair
In the most creative and pastoral part of his message, Leo XIV proposed to young people to "repair the nets", taking up the symbolic gesture of the first apostles: "Jesus called his first apostles while they were repairing their fishing nets (cf. Mt 4:21-22). He asks this of us too, indeed, he asks us today to build other nets: nets of relationships, nets of love, nets of free exchange, in which friendship is authentic and deep".
And he powerfully described the kind of networks we need to build: "Networks where we can repair what has been broken, where we can remedy loneliness, regardless of the number of followers - the followers - but experiencing in every encounter the infinite greatness of Love. Networks that open space to the other, more than to themselves, where no 'filter bubble' can extinguish the voice of the weakest. Networks that liberate, networks that save. Networks that make us rediscover the beauty of looking into each other's eyes. Networks of truth. In this way, each story of shared good will be the knot of a unique and immense network: the network of networks, the network of God".
Finally, the Pope encouraged all digital missionaries to overcome the logic of isolation and superficiality: "Be agents of communion, capable of breaking the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and self-centeredness. Focus on Christ, to overcome the logic of the world, of fake news and frivolity, with the beauty and light of truth (cf. Jn 8:31-32)".
