A Vatican communications official has challenged Catholic communicators to look beyond their online followers and reach those who are distant from the Church.
Msgr. Lucio Adrian Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, emphasized that online evangelization is not about gaining fame but about connecting with others in a language they can understand.
“Go to those who are far away and don’t know Jesus. Do not be content with those, just with those who follow you and give you their likes,” Ruiz said.
“Be a Church that goes forth. Go out to seek your contemporaries who have fallen by the wayside, who are searching for answers to their question, and who need a reason for hope,” he said.
Ruiz delivered the message in a video address to the 13th Catholic Social Media Summit (CSMS), held at Lourdes School of Mandaluyong on Nov. 30.
He underscored the importance of evangelization through social media, calling it an opportunity for a “first proclamation” to reach individuals searching for answers and hope.
Ruiz also stressed the need for personal encounters, saying online evangelization should serve as gateway to deeper, more meaningful connections.
“You cannot have a party without presence,” he said, pointing out that the digital space must be used to offer the presence of Jesus and the Church to those in need.
Addressing the evolving role of the Church, Ruiz noted that the synodal process has opened a new chapter in the mission of evangelization in the digital age.
“You are the writers of this chapter,” he told participants. “With courage and creativity, you can take the message to the ends of the earth. Go! Go forth to the existential peripheries,” he said.
Organized by YouthPinoy, an organization under the auspices of the CBCP Media Office and Areopagus Communications, CSMS was first held in 2012 to help provide tools to further communicate the Gospel in the vast digital world.
Since then, the summit has become a yearly gathering of Catholic communicators, educators, and digital missionaries, offering them a platform to share strategies and insights for effective online ministry.
At the opening Mass of this year’s summit, Fr. Ildefonso Dimaano, executive secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Communications, highlighted the ongoing mission of evangelization in the digital age.
“The mission of proclaiming never ends… it goes on and on,” Dimaano said. “This summit is a way for us to reflect on how we can be apostles [in this digital environment].”
He also emphasized the need to use social media for positive purposes, calling for more goodness, hope, peace, and concern in online spaces.
“We are being called by God to fulfill a deeper purpose,” Dimaano added. “We should be influencers in our own right, in our particular space and time, because God is asking us to be there for someone — even for a single soul,” Dimaano said.