Priest influencer Heriberto García Arias helps young people to pass from the screen to the altar

Within the framework of the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic influencers, which will be held in Rome on July 28 and 29, the Mexican priest P. Heriberto García Arias, author of the book Digital missionaries. Influencers or witnesses of Christ today?offered a reflection on the role of evangelizers on social networks and the importance of their presence in the digital environment.

With more than two million followers in Tiktok in his account @heribertoGarciaar and more than two hundred thousand on Instagram, the young priest granted an interview with Ewtn News from the eternal city, heart of the jubilee year, in which he stressed that the Catholic Church “is taking very important steps to make present in the entire digital context.”

In that sense, he said that the Church “is not leaving alone” to those who make their mission in the digital world, which he defined as “a new type of evangelization.”

What is the difference between a Catholic influencer and a digital missionary?

From his experience and the recent publication of his book, Fr. Arias explained the difference between a Catholic influencer and a digital missionary, whose “purpose is different”. Although “the two use the media,” the influencer can offer and sell products according to their values, while the digital missionary has the purpose of bringing his experience of Christ to social networks.

Fr. Arias evidenced the time dedicated by the new generations to social networks: “There are people who are looking for God and then we have to be present there, being witnesses, but not with the purpose of staying there, but to move from the screen to the altar.” “Then,” he added, “that is just the way, not the destiny.”

Go from the screen to the altar

He recalled that the Church “has always adapted to different cultures to carry the message of Christ as Jesus did,” and said that “now it is up to this culture where new generations come with another way of thinking, where digital for them is real.”

For Fr. Arias, the celebration of the jubilee of digital missionaries and Catholic influencers – which also coincides with the jubilee of young people – represents “an official recognition from the Church to all these missionaries”.

“Just three years ago there was even the digital missionary word,” he said, and said that today there are more than 3,500 digital missionaries in the world. Although he acknowledged that this new reality can cause a certain “fear,” said that “the fruits are already being seen.”

According to the priest of Jalisco (Mexico), being present on social networks “is an urgency and a necessity”, since many young “Ven Tik Tok”, but “are not going to pass the threshold of a church.” Therefore, he highlighted the importance of generating content that arouses their interest and helps them “move on to church.”

On the risk of banalizing the message, he pointed out that in each culture the Church is lived in different ways, while highlighting the need to form and accompany the digital missionaries so that they are “united in the same truth”.

“It is not me who speaks, but it is him”

By explaining the origin of his presence in social networks, Fr. Arias said that he responds to “a pastoral urgency to meet the needs of young people who are there.”

“We have a very beautiful message, an incomparable philosophy, a transcendental proposal. But sometimes we do not know how to take it, we do not know how to speak their language. I think we need to carry this message that we have experienced, adapted to the new generations.”

The priest, who received the call to the priesthood at age 15, confessed that at the beginning of his vocation he had “scenic panic.” However, his institutional communication formation of the Church helped him understand that “God has shown me that it is not me who speaks, but is him.”

He assumes his work in networks as a great responsibility, and before the temptation of “self -referentiality,” he warned: “If you want the message to arrive, you also have to deal with that temptation, because in the end they follow you, because they empathize with you and like it.”

“But you have to be attentive. It is not about being the center and talking about Christ, but he has to be the center,” he added.

The priest acknowledged that his formation allowed him to understand that he is a “spokesman” of the Church: “You are not the protagonist, it is the Church, it is about Christ and you have to always take it into account, because the great risk is that the Church not only does not lose the reputation, lose its authority in the world. And that is in our hands.”

“The Holy Spirit is acting through the algorithms”

Fr. Arias shared that he has received numerous testimonies from people whose life was transformed by his messages. “People who were about to abort and in the end did not, people who were at the best one a little fought with God because he had a son in the hospital and came the message he needed to encourage him and move on. Or even someone who wanted to commit suicide and a message stopped her and motivated her to move on.”

“The Holy Spirit is acting through the algorithms, reaching the hearts that need their word, which need hope,” he said.

Finally, he assured that his work has the support of the Church and his bishop, something that gives him peace and strength to move forward in this – each time more necessary – evangelizing mission.