“The Church must be where the people are, including online,” says Francesca Parisi, a 30-year-old Catholic influencer. In her daily life, she is a schoolteacher, but on social media, she creates content about faith on her profile @francescaparisi_1cor9.16. Francesca is just one of the many Catholics active on the web who will participate in the Jubilee event dedicated to influencers and digital missionaries on July 28–29, 2025.
“I started making videos in 2020, mainly to poke fun at some false myths surrounding the Church,” Francesca shares. While engaging online, she found a community of many like-minded Christians. Rather than calling themselves influencers, they prefer the term digital missionaries: “People who spread the Gospel using technological tools and contemporary language to reach even young people who might see the Church as something medieval or outdated.”
The growing importance of the web
Digital missionaries are emerging in Italy. While the Latin American group La Iglesia te escucha has been active for years, Italy’s counterpart, La Chiesa ti ascolta, was only formed last year. Its WhatsApp group has over 100 members, and its Instagram account, launched on Christmas Eve 2024, has surpassed 1,500 members. The community was founded by Monsignor Lucio Ruiz, Secretary of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See.
Pope Francis has repeatedly emphasized the importance of bringing the Christian message online. A series of events has underscored the growing importance of digital platforms in the Church. The Catholic Influencers Festival at World Youth Day in Lisbon in August 2023 attracted 20,000 participants, including 577 digital evangelizers, according to data from sinododigital.com. A whole chapter from the First Session of the 16th Synod of Bishops in October 2023 was dedicated to how Christians can engage on the web.
Some bishops and faithful are skeptical about social media’s impact on the sacred, and digital missionaries occasionally criticize each other publicly. Over the years, Francesca has faced both online hostility and platform restrictions. “Some truths of the faith are misunderstood or censored by social media. For example, stating that hell and the damned exist is considered hate speech.” Due to such statements, her TikTok profile has been flagged three times, limiting her video’s virality.
A historic moment for the Church
Through her videos, she connects with people who may believe but lack daily practice or motivation. She has met some in person, forming meaningful friendships and inspiring them to create content and engage more in parish life. Digital platforms offer a powerful tool to reach the faithful: “With just one video, I can impact thousands, while the in-person group I lead as a catechist counts only 16 children.”
“This is an epochal moment for the Church,” Francesca concludes. “It has realized that the web is inhabited by real, concrete people, making it vital to bring Christ there.” While the tools may evolve, the Church continues its mission of accompanying humanity, as it has done for over two millennia.
