First jubilee of digital missionaries: influencers come to where “you are thirsty for God and it is not known”

Not all influencers worship their own image or care just for monetizing their online presence. In the panorama of social networks there are also digital missionaries dedicated to announce the truth of Christ.

Thanks to these Catholic influencers, many people find a friendly voice in which they trust and, through it, receive a caress of God. This has opened a new fertile terrain for evangelization: a space where “it is thirsty for God and is not known,” says Mons. Lucio Adrián Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for the communication of the Vatican.

These people “do not sell things, but love Jesus and the Church, and are dedicated to seeking suffering, to bring the word, to find wounds. That is, they are good Samaritans in the network,” said the Vatican official in a recent interview with EWTN News.

This Argentine priest is one of the main organizers of the “Jubilee of the Digital Missionaries and the Catholic influencers”, which will be held in Rome on July 28 and 29, 2025, within the framework of the Holy Year and coinciding with the first two days of the Jubilee of the Youth.

The seed of this great ecclesial event – in which the Catholic Church will recognize the digital environment as an authentic mission field – germinated during the synodal listening process open by Pope Francis in October 2021.

Four years ago, the digital missionaries – experienced on technological platforms – completed more than 180,000 surveys of which about 150,000 synod proposals left. One of the conclusions that had the most echo is that 30 % of those who wanted to participate in the consultation questionnaire were not believers, but agnostics or people far from the Church.

Many people do not go to church “, but interact with digital missionaries

For Mons. Ruiz it is important to understand that many people do not go “to Church or ecclesial institutions”, but follow, listen or interact with digital missionaries.

Although they have never stepped on a church, “we can go missionally to find them on the network,” he says.

In fact, as revealed, during the Digital Synod there was a “very big experience of people who were very far from the Church and that through these digital encounters approached to confess” and “to meet Jesus.” “We even had baptisms requested,” he says.

Over time, the Vatican acknowledged that the presence of digital missionaries was a phenomenon that needed the support of the entire Church to bloom.

“They were alone, they had no formation. The Church did not know or recognize them before. And they, on all sides, asked for the accompaniment of the Church,” explains Mons. Ruiz.

A silent transformation

Impacted by this new phenomenon, the Vatican took action on the matter and during the Synod, presented all the bishops of the world, “this existence, this mission full of love and passion for Jesus.”

Fruit of this awareness was the inclusion, for the first time, of an entire chapter on the digital mission in the final document of the Synod (Chapter 17).

In addition, in October 2024, the Argentine Pontiff created a specific study group to address the issue of mission in the digital environment

Profile of digital missionaries

But who are digital missionaries? The most important thing is that to be, says Mons. Ruiz, “No matter age.”

“We have children who make digital mission since childhood, but also people over 80 years old. Anyone who through digital media finds people to help them in their faith, in their pain, in their walk, is a digital missionary,” explains the priest.

Something that differentiates them from influencers to use is that the essential is not to create content, but to find people: “That is the mission: reach the heart at the moment when the person needs it.”

Three axes: spirituality, training and community

The jubilee of digital missionaries will organize around three main axes: spiritual, formative and community.

“The spiritual line will include confession, Eucharistic adoration, the Holy Mass, the consecration and the passage through the Holy Gate, because it is the center of the jubilee,” said the prelate.

The formative line will have “training and work events in groups to deepen and give the opportunity that they can contribute to the Church their thinking about the mission in digital environments.”

And the community line will be focused on strengthening ties between the participants, highlighting two main events: an urban rally and a festival with “music, testimonies and a moment of party as we had done in Lisbon, to happily manifest our mission and our faith,” he details.

A mission for all the people of God

Mons. Ruiz also emphasizes that this evangelizing stage gives a special prominence to the laity: “Perhaps at other times the missionary was more related to the consecrated ones. This new page of the mission summons us all. It is true, that we see many priests and consecrated … but fundamentally, summons the laity.”

And he adds: “The mission in the Church belongs to us all. When Jesus sends his apostles and disciples, he sends us all to be missionaries. This means hierarchy and laity, without any distinction.”