He wanted to meet them even if he was not scheduled at the beginning. Pope Leone, at the end of the mass for the Jubilee of digital missionaries, says, to Catholic influencers: “Look for the suffering meat of Christ”. And give them a new compass, and at the same time ancient, for A church that has decided not to let himself be displaced by digital, but to live it. The speech of the Pontiff pronounced after the Mass in San Pietro, in front of hundreds of digital missionaries and Catholic influencers, avoided the easy way to media enthusiasm to go right to the heart of the matter: If the network is an environment to evangelize, then it cannot only be a channel to use; must become a place to redeem. There is a disarming force in the second passage of his speech, where he invites to “Feeding a culture of Christian humanism” in the digital world. The Pope does not just ask for good content: he asks for real encounters, does not invoke a strategy, but a style: urges to look for people, not the performances. And he does it with a language that knows how to be pastoral and radical at the same time: it is not a question of “generating content”, but of “meeting hearts”: this is the challenge that overturns any algorithmic logic, is the opposite of the cult of engagement, is the engagement of wounded humanity.
Pope Leone knows that a lot of solitude is consumed in feeds and that, behind every nickname, a silent agony can hide. For this he recalls the digital missionaries to descend into the depth of those wounds, to recognize the cracks in the screen glass as theological places, to rediscover an extension of the Via di Emmaus in the network, where the risen Christ continues to walk next to those who do not recognize it. And he asks them for consistency, authenticity, courage: because only a touched heart can touch other hearts, and only those who let themselves be healed can heal.
The third starting point of the speech is no less dense, on the contrary, in his appeal to “repair the nets”, Pope Leone offers the most evocative image of his intervention. It is a metaphor that unhinges common sense: the web in fact is not a trophy of science and technology to be exhibited, but a fragile plot to be cured. It is precisely here that the real ecclesial challenge of online presence is played: not in the virality of a post, but in loyalty to a meeting. “Networks where you can heal solitude, not counting followers but experimenting with the infinite size of love”: it is the warning of prevost against all forms of spiritual narcissism who could camouflage himself behind the pixels of the mission. The network, for the Pope, is called to become a network of God, an intertwining of relationships that does not take self -celebrabra, but hosts the other, where you do not compete to emerge, but you bet on the depth, where bubbles are not built, but bridges multiply. And the only way not to make the message sterile is this: to make agents of communion, not of consent.
What happened in these days with the first Jubilee of Catholic influencers and digital missionaries It is not a gathering for professionals, but an ecclesial act of prophetic scope. The consecration of the digital mission to Maria, scheduled for this afternoon in the Vatican gardens, will be a declaration of intent. This new form of announcement is a shared vocation, and like every real vocation, he asks to walk together, to let himself be accompanied, to get church. Digital is no longer in an extension, thus becomes a reality to live …And if it is true that each click can be a meeting, each scroll one transition to the other, then the challenge is not to update languages, but transfigure relationships. Pope Leone gave the mandate: Not only to build content, but mend bonds, do not chase numbers, but keep names. Because after all – he reminded us strongly – every follower is a story that deserves to be heard, cared for, healed.
