A Fire that Burns from Within: The Jubilee of Catholic Digital Missionaries and Influencers

On July 28 and 29, we celebrated the first Jubilee of Catholic Digital Missionaries and Influencers, an event the Church organized to send a clear signal. This kind of missionary presence is not only legitimate. It is needed.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that if social media had existed in the time of St. Eugene, he would have been the first to use it.
We all know his determination to receive constant and ongoing news from his distant missionaries. We know his sorrow at not being able to be physically close to each one, especially to those he loved passionately and with whom he set a meeting before the Eucharist to overcome every distance. At the same time, we know how his heart burned with one clear desire: that the message of salvation would reach every corner of the earth and every single person.

“Charity embraces everything. And for new needs, it invents, when necessary, new means.”

Today, those new means are digital. They are no longer just tools we use. They are real spaces—places that need to be evangelized. The Church is clear: “Communication helps shape the missionary vocation of the entire Church. And today, social networks are one of the places where this vocation is lived out, rediscovering the beauty of faith and the beauty of encountering Christ,” Pope Francis wrote a few years ago.

A Growing Network

On July 28 and 29, we celebrated the first Jubilee of Catholic Digital Missionaries and Influencers, an event the Church organized to send a clear signal. This kind of missionary presence is not only legitimate. It is needed. And it was precisely about “nets” that Pope Leo spoke in his surprise message to the more than 1,000 participants from 75 countries, “I send this call to all of you: go and repair the nets. Jesus called his first apostles while they were mending their fishing nets. He is asking the same of us.

In fact, today he asks us to build new nets. Nets of relationship. Nets of love. Nets where sharing is generous and friendship is deep and real. Nets where what has been torn can be mended, where loneliness can be healed. Not by counting followers, but by experiencing the greatness of Love in each encounter. Nets that make room for others more than for ourselves. Nets where no digital bubble can silence the voices of the weak. Nets that bring freedom, that save. Nets that help us rediscover the beauty of looking each other in the eye. Nets of truth. Every good story shared becomes a knot in this great network—the network of all networks, the network of God.”

From the Synod to a Real-Life Encounter

This missionary reality has grown slowly and steadily over the past few years. During the Synod preparation, the Dicastery for Communication launched an international project called The Church Listens to You, connecting hundreds of people around the world involved in evangelization through social media. The goal was to help the Church reflect on this new and very real form of mission.

One of the first visible fruits of that process was the synthesis report from the Synod’s first session, which dedicated Chapter 17 to this very theme. But something even more important happened afterward. The network kept growing. The relationships deepened. When we finally met face-to-face at the Jubilee, it felt like reconnecting with brothers and sisters—even if we had never seen each other in person before. Three of us from the Oblate family were there: two Italian laypeople from AMMI and one Oblate from the Philippines.

Why does this event matter so much to us as Oblates?

The Congregation’s Social Media Vademecum puts it plainly: “If our calling as Oblates is to use every resource we have to evangelize the poor, then social media should no longer be seen as something foreign. This is not a call just for young Oblates who were born into the digital world, or only for those passionate about communications. It is a call for every Oblate, young or old. Wherever people are, we should be there too. And not with just any kind of presence, but one rooted in evangelization.”

That doesn’t mean every Oblate must be on social media. But those who are, are called to be there with a missionary heart. As Pope Leo XIV said, “This is not simply about producing content. It is about reaching hearts. About seeking those who suffer and who need to encounter the Lord so they can heal, stand back up, and find meaning. And it starts with each of us, with our own wounds, letting go of the masks, and recognizing our own need for the Gospel. And it must be done together.”

Recognizing that our own poverty has been touched by Christ, and letting that encounter lead us to serve the poor, this is what lies at the center of our charism.

Preparing for the Mission

But like any mission, this one cannot be improvised. It takes formation. We need to understand the digital culture, learn its language, and build a presence that fosters real communion. That’s the only way to avoid falling into narcissism, self-reference, or shallow engagement. This mission must be rooted in a real relationship with Christ. It starts with Him and with the burning desire to share that encounter with others. “You are here because something is burning inside you. I am not asking you to shine, but to burn,” said Fr. Antonio Spadaro on July 28.

That is why, as Oblates, we are called to take up the Church’s challenges. We must stay alert to new calls to mission, even in places we never thought we would go, and respond with a faithfulness that is both creative and humble.

By Angelica Ciccone

Published on the OMI World website