Pope Leo XIV received a rock star’s welcome at the Vatican’s festival of Catholic influencers – priests, nuns and ordinary faithful who use their social media presence to preach and teach the faith.
He urged them to ensure that human relations do not suffer with the spread of digital ecosystems and artificial intelligence.
History’s first American pope was mobbed by hundreds of influencers, their mobile phones hoisted high to stream the encounter, when he arrived at St Peter’s Basilica after a special mass.
The pilgrims have descended on Rome for a special Holy Year celebration of so-called “digital missionaries”, part of the Vatican’s week-long jubilee for young people that culminates this weekend with a vigil and mass in a vast field on Rome’s outskirts.
Leo thanked the young people for using their digital platforms to spread the faith, and he gamely posed for selfies.
But he warned them about neglecting human relationships in their pursuit of clicks and followers, and cautioned them to not fall prey to fake news and the “frivolity” of online encounters.
“It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter between hearts,” Leo said in a speech that showed his ease switching from Italian to Spanish to English. “Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarisation, of individualism and egocentrism.”
He added: “It is up to us – to each one of you – to ensure that this culture remains human. Our mission – your mission – is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do so together” in what he called the only networks that really matter: of friendship, love and the “network of God”.
For the past two days, the Vatican’s message to the young influencers has been one of thanks for their social media evangelising, but also a warning to not allow their posting to go off-message or to neglect the human dimension of all encounters.
For Leo, the issue is particularly heartfelt since he has said that addressing the threat to humanity posed by AI will be a priority of his pontificate.
Tuesday began with groups of influencers and young pilgrims passing through the basilica’s Holy Door, a rite of passage for the estimated 32 million people participating in the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year celebrations. This week, downtown Rome swarmed with energetic masses of teenage Catholic scouts, church and Catholic school groups.
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