The Vatican gets socially understand

Sister Albertine, a youthful French Catholic nun, stood out of the Vatican, the phone in hand, ready to shoot more videos for her hundreds of thousands of fans online.

According to AFP, the 29 -year -old nun, whose secular name is Albertine Debacker, is one of the hundreds of Catholic influences in Rome on a social media summit organized by the Vatican this week.

Their Vatican calls “digital missionaries” and – in an unprecedented move for the century of the institution – Pope Leo Xiv led a mass dedicated to them to the Basilica of St. Peter, inviting them to create content for those who “need to know”.

Great cautiousness of the social media, the Catholic Church now sees it as a vital tool to spread faith in the midst of reduced participation in the Church.

For sister Albertine, this is the ideal “missionary territory”.

Inside the Baroque Basilica, it was one of a flock of religious influences surrounding the new Pope, live the encounter on their smartphones in one of the most sacred spots of Christianity.

He said it was extremely symbolic that the Vatican organized the event that gathered Instagramming’s discipline.

“He tells us,” It’s important, go for it. We’re with you and we’ll look together how we can get this new Annunciation forward, “he told AFP.

Influencer’s summit was held as part of the Vatican’s “Jubilee of Youth” as the young faithful flooded Rome this week.

‘Great influence is God’

Albertine sister has 320,000 fans on Instagram and some of Tiktok’s videos get over a million views.

It shares a combination of prayers with episodes of everyday religious life, often from the French single.

“You feel alone and I suggest praying together,” she said in a video, crossing herself.

But as religious content spreads online in the social media and the AI era, one of the reasons behind the Vatican Summit was to express its place in the trend.

“You are not only influenced, you are missionaries,” said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle – one of the few Vatican officials active in the social media – he told those who watch mass.

“Great influence is God,” he added.

‘It’s not a digital program’

But Tagle also warned that “Jesus is not a voice created by a digital program”.

Pope Leo called on his online followers to strike a balance at a time when society is “overconfident” and “bombed with images, sometimes false or deformed”.

“It’s not just a matter of creating content, but to create a meeting between hearts,” said the American Pope, 69.

It is this balance that was difficult to hit, with some Catholic clergymen embracing the presence of social media.

Father Giuseppe Fusari does not look like a regular priest: wearing tight shirts that expose his tattoos with his hand.

For his 63,000 fans on Instagram, he mixes the content of Italian ecclesiastical architecture and preaching.

Fusari told AFP that there is no reason why Catholic clergy should not embrace the world of electronic videos.

“Everyone is using social media, so it’s important to be there too,” said Fusari, who came to Rome about the fact of influence from the northern city of Brescia.

Fusari said his goal was to reach as many people as possible on the internet, sharing with them the “Word of God”. This also takes the form of chihuahua video sharing that eats spaghetti.

But priests and nuns are not the only ones trying to attract people to the church on the internet, with regular faithful spreading faith.

Francesca Parisi, a 31 -year -old Italian teacher, joined the Catholic Church later in life.

It now has about 20,000 fans in Tiktok, where it is trying to make the universal faith look fashionable.

Her target audience? People who have been “removed” from the church.

It is possible, he said, to lure them behind their smartphones.

“If God did it with me. Be sure. He can also do it with you.”