‘The Digital World Needs Hope’

For the first time in her history, the Catholic Church dedicated a Jubilee event to Catholic digital missionaries and influencers, formally recognising the digital environment as a true field of mission. This unprecedented initiative, promoted by the Dicastery for Evangelization in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication, brought nearly 1,000 Catholic digital missionaries and influencers from around the world to Rome on 28-29 July for a celebration aimed at fostering communion, deepening mission and sharing hope through digital platforms. The event coincided with the opening days of the Jubilee of Young People.

Digital missionaries proclaim the joy of the Gospel through social media, video platforms, blogs and apps, offering Christian witness within the digital continent.

The Jubilee initiative was a response to a call made by Pope Francis during the Synod on Synodality (2021-2024), which emphasised the importance of bringing the Good News into the digital world, ensuring no one is excluded. It stands as a clear expression of a missionary Church that reaches out to the existential peripheries of contemporary society.

‘A network of people, not of algorithms’

In his opening remarks at an event held in Rome’s Conciliazione Auditorium, Mr Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, welcomed participants, inviting them into a sacred space of listening and encounter.

“It is beautiful to be together in person”, he said, noting that while digital platforms unite us, “what truly binds us is not the web, but something that transcends us: God himself”.

Ruffini reflected on the fact that the Church has always been a “network”, long before the internet existed, and that this network is not made of code or content, but of persons — imperfect, diverse, yet united by one baptism and one faith. He urged those present to resist the temptations of self-promotion and superficiality and reflect on their mission with humility.

‘The digital world
needs hope’

Addressing the digital missionaries, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin invited them to be “connected to hope”. In an age where misinformation, polarization and isolation can dominate online narratives, digital missionaries, he said, are called to offer something different: the light of Christ. “You are not only content creators”, he said, “you are witnesses. You are not just building platforms; you are building bridges”.

Cardinal Parolin stressed that Christian online presence should be marked by truth, charity and humility, with the aim of promoting a culture of encounter. “Even a short post, when shared in faith and love, can become a spark of grace”, he said, encouraging influencers to remain rooted in prayer, Scripture and the sacraments, drawing strength from the community of the Church.

On Tuesday, 29 July, participants walked together in pilgrimage to Saint Peter’s Basilica, passing through the Holy Door and celebrating the Eucharist with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. At the end of Holy Mass, Pope Leo XIV addressed the young audience, highlighting that the Church’s mission is to “proclaim peace to the world! The peace that comes from the Lord”. He urged them to be “agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism”.

Later in the day, during a visit to the Vatican Gardens, they consecrated their digital mission to Mary, whom Ruffini called “the first influencer of God”.