The report for UCCR by the young philosopher Pietro Calore, witness of the Jubilee of Catholic influencers. A narrative of what he saw, beyond the media filters and the criticisms of some Catholic figures.

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by Pietro Calore*
*philosopher and writer

 

On Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 July I attended the first-ever Catholic Digital Missionaries and Influencers in Rome.

It was organised (the programme) across the auditorium on Via della Conciliazione, St Peter’s and the Vatican Gardens by the Dicastery for Communication.

There were more than 1100 registered participants from 75 countries around the world.

 

Jubilee of Catholic influencers: what a millennial takes away

I’ll start with a personal note: it was an immersive and electrifying experience.

The organisation, though not always perfect (but what is in this world?), was effective in the most important thing — in creating a spirit of community, in building fellowship, in short in making Church.

Meeting in person faces previously known to me only through the web was a surprisingly intense experience.

On one hand, contrary to my own millennial expectations, I realised deep down that the digital experience should only be a booster for the “analogue” one — deliberately avoiding the word “real” — which offers emotions and human bonds that cannot otherwise be replaced.

On the other hand, it strengthened my conviction that digital media are a necessary support for evangelisation in today’s social context.

This conviction was then confirmed by the thousands of young people who flooded Rome for the Youth Jubilee, with which our Jubilee chose prophetically to be in temporal continuity.

Their immense and fruitful use of social channels to share their joyful faith experience through songs, dances, prayers, catechesis, tears and crowded metro rides was nothing short of miraculous. How else could they have brought it to so many people, against so many secular and Catholic media outlets that had already declared it a “flop”?

 

Unfair criticisms of the Influencers’ Jubilee

Yes, because, for different interests, many found this narrative convenient, which was indeed promoted on blogs and national newspapers until it was “crushed” — as the internet says — within a few days by the social testimonies of the young participants themselves.

With their simple phones, they showed everyone that the Church is alive! That it is not a medieval relic nor the dying victim of Vatican II or Pope Francis.

Our own Jubilee of Catholic influencers was also targeted by this biased narrative, especially within the Church. I won’t name names because I’m not interested in dissing.

Some said we were too few because the auditorium was half empty. Aside from the fact that it wasn’t, what does that even mean? How many should we have been to count as “many”?

Does the speaker have a database of digital missionaries worldwide to say how many should have been there? Isn’t the large presence of Asians, Americans, Africans etc. enough to prove the event’s appeal?

 

Some criticised the event using words and arguments that seemed more like a venting of their own personal grudges against members of the Dicastery for Communication (losing all credibility from the start).

Some focused their entire analysis of the event on the phenomenon (which stood out for its marginality to those present) of the “bodybuilder priests”, revealing more about their own interests than about the subject.

Some complained there were too many Masses (there was one at St Peter’s, which saw the Pope’s surprise visit), others said there were too few, as proof of the progressivism this Jubilee supposedly embodied.

From my side, I heard the centrality of Christ in the digital mission affirmed by all the speeches, starting with the opening address by Cardinal Parolin.

The programme included, besides the obvious passage through the Holy Door, in order: various moments of prayer, an adoration with penitential liturgy at St Peter’s, the consecration of our digital mission to Mary in front of the Lourdes grotto in the Vatican Gardens… take your pick.

In the photo the conversation with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the video can be viewed on Instagram and on Facebook.

 

Finally, some denounced a rigged selection of participants always from a “progressive” perspective (ignoring that registration was autonomous and open to all).

These voices, fundamentally insincere and coming from opposite extremes, confirm to me that this was an event aligned with God’s will.

Even when we were bent over — without embarrassment — our phones making stories, reels and posts of all kinds, the shared experience was clear and strong: we felt the joy among us of sharing the same love and gratitude for the Church and for Jesus Christ in a thousand ways.

 

As a participant in this first Jubilee of Digital missionaries and Catholic influencers, I feel compelled to say: it was a historic event, the first Pentecost of the web.

Ad Maiorem

 

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