On the second day of the Youth Jubilee, the Vatican held a mass dedicated to digital missionaries and Catholic influencers for the first time.
Cardinal Tagle delivered the homily message to the crowd of young influencers, defining what influencing is and noting that God should have the first and primary influence on all Catholic lives.
CARDINAL TAGLE
Saint John declares in the first reading that the great influencer is God. God who is love, and to affect the transformation, renewal, sanctification, and salvation of humanity through love, God did not send us a text message or an email or a file document. Rather, God sent his Son.
At the end of the mass, Pope Leo XIV made a surprise appearance, and digital missionaries rushed to shake his hand, many standing on their chairs just to get a glimpse of the Pope.
And as the Pope sat down to deliver a message, the crowd welcomed him with warm applause.
In Italian, Spanish, and English, Pope Leo delivered a message, encouraging the cultivation of Christian online spaces and maintaining human dignity amidst the rise of artificial intelligence.
POPE LEO XIV
Today we find ourselves in a new culture, deeply characterized and formed by technology. It is up to us – to each one of you – to ensure that this culture remains human. Science and technology influence the way we live in the world, even affecting how we understand ourselves and how we relate to God and how we relate to one another.
Pope Leo ended his message with a blessing and even stopped after to receive flags and gifts from the audience, including a lion stuffed animal.
CRT
