Leo XIV: ‘Faith known online risks being individual’

Rome, 31 October (LaPresse) – “The synodal Church for young people is also a challenge, a provocation, we might say, because it urges them not to live their faith in isolation. You know that in recent years many young people have approached the faith through social media, through successful programmes and Christian witnesses who are very popular on the web. There is a risk, however, that faith known online remains only an individual experience, which reassures intellectually and emotionally, but never becomes “body”, remains disembodied, that is, detached from the “ecclesial body”, is not lived with others, in the concreteness of life situations, relationships and real sharing. Social media algorithms too often create only a sounding board for the subject, that is, they pick up personal preferences and tastes and “send them back” amplified, enriched with appealing proposals. But everyone remains alone with themselves, prisoners of their own inclinations and projections.” Pope Leo XIV said this when he received the members of the International Youth Advisory Body (IYAB) of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in audience. ‘In this sense,’ the Pope continued, ‘experiences of lived synodality overcome the barriers of the self and encourage young people to become effective members of the family of Jesus Christ.’ In his speech, the Pope also emphasised that ‘authentic ecclesial participation’ has ‘a spiritual, not an ideological or political root’ and, addressing young people again, he said: ‘Your contribution, your presence is precious.’