Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle urged Catholic content creators gathered in Rome for the first-ever Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers to “be discerning” in how they use their platforms, warning against the spiritual dangers of misinformation and manipulation online. 

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“You are not only influencers, you are also missionaries,” Tagle said during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 29, addressing more than 1,700 Catholic creators from 75 countries who came to the Vatican for the two-day event coinciding with the Jubilee of Youth.

“Dear digital missionaries and Catholic influencers: Jesus loves you. Do not doubt him. Accept him as the greatest influence on your life. And through you, may the person of Jesus influence many people, human and digital spaces, so that God’s truth, justice, love, and peace may flow to the ends of the earth,” he said.

Organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Dicastery for Communication, the jubilee marked a historic first for the Catholic Church: a large-scale Vatican initiative aimed at those proclaiming the Gospel in the digital age.

Clergy and laypeople alike, many of them young and active on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, gathered to reflect on evangelization in the digital sphere. Pilgrims could be seen taking selfies under the dome of St. Peter’s and exchanging social media handles in the colonnade. 

“I’ve been meeting a lot of people who have content I follow and people who follow me,” 24-year-old American Sophie Chamblee from Indiana told CNA.

Chamblee has more than 59,000 followers for her Instagram page, Playground Saints, where she shares cartoon stickers of the saints and posts humorous videos about imaginary conversations between the saints in heaven.

“Everybody here is after the same thing … so we all understand each other in ways that other people can’t,” she said.

In his homily, Tagle, pro-prefect for the Section for First Evangelization, shared a personal warning about the risks of digital manipulation: a deepfake video of him advertising arthritis medication recently circulated online.

“To influence consumers so that monetary profit may increase, some manufacturers resort to false advertising, even using famous personalities,” he said. “I discovered videos generated by I don’t know who, of me advertising medicine for arthritis.”

Tagle, who was considered a papabile in the 2013 and 2025 conclaves, drew criticism ahead of the most recent papal election when a viral video showed him singing karaoke to John Lennon’s “Imagine.” His comments during the homily reflected on the moral complexities of navigating digital fame.

“I pose this question: Will we let the water and blood of Jesus poured for love of us to be the true fluid of influence that will wash away all iniquity, falsehood, injustice, prejudice, manipulation, and violence?” Tagle asked the congregation.

“Let the love of God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit prevent various poisonous influences from flowing into human hearts.”

Tagle also cautioned against mistaking technological connection for true Christian witness.

“God did not send to us a text message or an email, or a file document. Rather, God sent his Son,” he said.

“Love cannot be generated by an algorithm. Only a divine person with a human heart can love divinely and humanly, effecting profound and enduring change,” he added. 

As the Mass concluded, the pilgrims received a surprise visit from Pope Leo XIV, who entered St. Peter’s to a sea of raised smartphones. Switching seamlessly between Italian, English, and Spanish, the pope emphasized the importance of authenticity and human dignity in digital evangelization.

“Science and technology influence the way we live in the world, even affecting how we understand ourselves and how we relate to God, how we relate to one another,” the pope said.  

“But nothing that comes from man and his creativity should be used to undermine the dignity of others. Our mission — your mission — is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do so together. This is the beauty of the ‘network’ for all of us.” 

With artificial intelligence playing an increasingly dominant role in global communication, Pope Leo challenged influencers to examine their witness.

“This is a challenge that we must face: reflecting on the authenticity of our witness, on our ability to listen and speak, and on our capacity to understand and to be understood,” he said. “We have a duty to work together to develop a way of thinking, to develop a language, of our time, that gives voice to love.” 

“It is not simply a matter of generating content but of creating an encounter of hearts,” the pope said.

This article was originally published by CNA.