Digital missionaries continue journey to proclaim the Gospel online
Three Vatican officials hold an online prayer vigil at the tomb of St. Peter to conclude the Digital Synod initiative, encouraging thousands of digital Catholic missionaries to serve the Church in the key of synodality.
By Edoardo Giribaldi
Digital missionaries gathered online Sunday afternoon, gathering virtually and in person around the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
The event took place on the occasion of World Mission Day in the Clementine Chapel, under St. Peter’s Basilica, and had the theme: “He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches” (Rev 2:29).
Dr. Paolo Ruffini and Mgr. Lucio Ruiz, respectively prefect and secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, were joined by Mgr Luis Marín de San Martín, undersecretary of the Synod Secretariat.
Together in the digital mission
Mgr. Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for Communication (our parent organization), announced the upcoming Jubilee of Catholic Digital Missionaries and Influencers, which he said will take place on July 28-29, 2025, just before the Youth Jubilee.
He praised the work carried out by the Digital Synod and the resulting listening process, and noted that significant progress has been made.
As the initiative draws to a close, said Msgr. Ruiz, the “The Church Listens to You” project will continue its mission in digital spaces, always guided by unity.
He noted that a “forward-moving church” is made up of disciples who seek out others to meet, heal and proclaim.
“Let us continue to dream together,” said Mgr. Ruiz concluded, “and do beautiful things that show God’s joy in a world that needs hope.”
“Pioneer” missionaries of a new world
Bishop Marín De San Martín then recalled that Jesus is not a simple avatar or digital identity but a “living person”.
He urged digital missionaries to embrace the theme of World Mission Day, which is “go invite everyone to the banquet,” and abandon their own comfort zones to bear witness to Christian joy.
Their mission, he stressed, should never seek to create cliques but rather to confront “the dust of the road and the mud of history.”
Testimonials from digital influencers
During the event, several young influencers shared their prayer intentions in different languages.
Two young Lebanese twins told attendees how their lives have been touched by the work of digital missionaries, saying they are now committed to sharing “the beauty of Christianity” online in the Middle East.
Participants were invited to write a few words that characterized their missionary work, with examples such as fraternity, listening, joy, pain, happiness, thirst and need for God.
A mission to be carried out with humility
Later in the event, Dr. Ruffini invited Catholic missionaries serving on digital platforms to draw inspiration from the life of St. Paul.
He urged them to take responsibility for the wounds that afflict our modern society and do their part to heal them.
“May the Lord help us to be the salt and leaven of our times, with the same humility as salt and leaven,” he said.
The Apostle of the Gentiles, noted the Prefect, truly became “all things to all people” by being among the people, “the exact opposite of a civil servant, a bureaucrat or an intelligent planner.”
Dr. Ruffini noted that St. Paul served the Lord with humility and tears. He invited young missionaries to follow a similar path by putting aside personal interests, rejecting the desire for power and always choosing “communion rather than distinction.”
Mgr. Ruiz concluded the Digital Synod event with a final prayer and missionary mandate: “Go to the ends of the earth!
