Pope Leo XIV visits the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, May 25, 2025. Photo: CNS/Vatican Media.
Digital evangelisation is a real thing and its happening faster than expected, Rohith Kinattukara writes
As I write this article, the Pope has now reached 13.8 million followers on Instagram, taking him only 3 days to reach this number. This platform has millions of users ranging from different demographics and age groups.
Pope Leo’s first ever post on social media was about spreading peace, and since the beginning of his pontifical journey, he has been an advocate for peace and unity, especially during the tense times we are currently living in. One may ask, why is it such an important feat that the pontiff is now on social media? It is quite simple, the importance of getting more young people back into faith is crucial for the Catholic Church.
Tool
With great presence online, his message for the Catholic Church reaches not just for people in the Vatican, but every corner of the world- that’s the beauty of social media- and this aligns with his message of unity and communion. It is also seen that many priests who do have a social media presence be it with short videos or funny skits that resonate with the younger generation as definitely have helped in gaining more youngsters to the Church.
Social media can be a great tool for education, and this is usually not the case when people hear the word Instagram or Facebook. I personally have seen different accounts that have content that explains different verses in the gospel in a manner that grabs attention for a generation that hardly focuses more than 20 seconds. While I highly doubt that the Pope would be making funny skits, I do see him trying to have more video related posts on various topics and having more engagement with the youth. Maybe we could have a Q and A session one day!
They get all this hype from different videos and social media posts. Digital evangelisation is a real thing and its happening faster than expected”
As social media is a tool that makes feel connected, regardless of if you know the person or not, this is a great opportunity for the Pope to make that connection stronger. With this initiative of being more present digitally, it gives people sense of hope that the Pope is with you always, his message being more widespread.
I have had many of my friends who have recently started to send me different posts about various catholic practices, different ancient churches which look stunning, different compilation videos of both late Pope Francis and our new Pope Leo (according to them, very wholesome videos) and the idea of being a Catholic fascinates them to know more about what Jesus taught, and what the good news is. The more questions I get, the more I am thrilled to find out they get all this hype from different videos and social media posts. Digital evangelisation is a real thing and its happening faster than expected.
Control
However, there is always the question of whether this new opportunity would be used in a negative manner. Artificial intelligence, something Pope Leo has clearly mentioned that needs to be investigated carefully, can be a mean of spreading false information, videos and photos. It has already been seen that the rapid AI use has led to some great achievements but also some misused content that has had devastated divide on the internet.
Social media, if used in a manner that has no control or consequences, will be catastrophic. The Church should be able to talk more about social media safety, especially during homilies, or youth centric talks, however annoying it maybe for them. AI has it’s perks for their purpose of educating many people, AI websites like Magisterium, can be extremely helpful for Catholics young and old to get all the questions answered, have a deeper understanding of Catholicism. However, AI has gotten so good, even a techie like me is a bit worried with its progress.
Google recently released its latest version of its video creating platform, Veo 3. This now creates hyper realistic videos (yes, the fingers aren’t more 4 or 6) and now it has live voice and sound ability. Very interesting, but also a great way to be misused to spread agendas that are not true.
Pope Leo XIV is now reaching social media stardom, which is something I am seeing as a great strive to modernise communication with people around the world. He recently changed ‘The Holy See’ Website, making it more colourful and vibrant, a much-needed change. The question what is next digitally under him? Only time will tell, but it is exciting times for the Catholic Church, and I would like to end this article by saying his famous first lines ‘Peace be with all of you’ God Bless!