Networks and the gospel: an assessment of the digital missionary phenomenon

In the last five years, the phenomenon of the so-called "digital missionaries" or Catholic influencers has grown enormously. At first, I confess, I approached this world with a certain mixture of enthusiasm, amazement and suspicion. The term "influencer" is not exactly the most attractive when one thinks of something as sacred as the transmission of the faith. However, over the last two years I have had the opportunity to deal closely with about twenty of them and my experience has been quite positive, to the point that I believe that a true evangelizing paradigm may be in the making.

Positives

The first thing that struck me about many of these digital evangelizers was their spiritual depth. They are not just people who start talking about God simply because they have a certain charisma or network skills. I have seen in them a sincere desire for the interior life, for personal contact with Jesus Christ, for prayer and the sacraments. They know that you cannot give what you do not have, and that is why their priority is not the microphone, but the tabernacle.

Secondly, I have perceived in them a great responsibility to improve their formation. Those who publicly explain the truths of faith -often to thousands of people- know that they cannot improvise. That is why they form themselves, allow themselves to be accompanied, ask questions, read, contrast. This desire to learn and transmit faithfully is a very encouraging characteristic. One of the aspects that helps them to be very aware of this point is that every time they launch an unclear or wrong message, they receive a lot of comments correcting them quickly. This certainly helps them to be aware of their own shortcomings.

A third point that has impressed me is the lack of obsession with metrics. In a world that measures success in "likes" and followers, many of them have learned to look at it differently: evangelization is not about going viral, but about reaching hearts. What is important is not quantity, but spiritual fruitfulness. For this reason, they often prefer a profound comment to a hundred fleeting "likes".

I have also been edified by their desire for community. Although they work from their homes or studios, and many do not belong to a concrete ecclesial structure, I have seen in them a strong will to make Church, to collaborate, to support one another, not to act as snipers but as members of a body. There is a real communion among them, not only in style but also in spirit. In this sense they are bridge-builders and help enormously to calm rather polarized environments.

Risks

Another bright spot is their awareness of the dangers of their medium. Although they work with digital tools, they are very insistent on not falling into the trap of virtual evasion, something they are very aware of since they are the first ones to spend many hours on networks. They often warn their followers about the risks of living glued to a screen. They invite them to pray, to go to Mass, to take care of their real relationships, to go out into the physical world. They are, in many cases, voices from within the system warning against its excesses.

This does not detract, of course, from the risks involved. The larger the audience, the greater the damage can be if the message is erroneous or the life is incoherent. That is why accompaniment, humility and spiritual vigilance are so important. Not everyone who has a following is an apostle, nor is everything that sounds Catholic the true gospel.

But with its lights and shadows, this new generation of evangelizers seems to be inaugurating a way of connecting with many people in an attractive way. Evangelization, which for centuries was mainly in the hands of religious orders and which, in more recent times, has gained new momentum thanks to numerous lay institutions and active parishes, is now expanding strongly in the digital environment. Through social networks, many people - without ceasing to belong to a spiritual family - take the Gospel beyond the traditional circuits, reaching new audiences and contexts. And they do it with creativity, audacity and, many times, with a fidelity that moves.

The future of evangelization does not depend exclusively on them, but undoubtedly for many people it depends on them. They will never replace the richness of the parish, the life group or the personal encounter, but they can be the gateway to all that. As Pope Francis said, we must not be afraid to enter the peripheries. And today, many of those peripheries are on the other side of the screen. That there are those who dare to bring Christ there, with truth and love, is a reason for hope.