In his new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the profound cultural and spiritual challenges emerging within a digital age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, algorithms, and mediated forms of communication. While acknowledging the extraordinary possibilities of these technologies, he cautions that the human person must never be reduced to data, attention, or consumption. Instead, communication must remain ordered toward truth, communion, and authentic encounter.
As the Holy Father suggests, the challenge before us is whether our technological culture will resemble Babel, marked by fragmentation, control, and self-interest, or Jerusalem, a place of communion, meaning, and shared human dignity.
Pope Leo’s reflections are especially relevant for the church today. Increasingly, people encounter ideas, form perceptions, and search for meaning within digital environments long before they enter a parish, meet a priest, or experience Christian community firsthand.
This raises an important pastoral question for the church: how do we communicate the Gospel faithfully within a culture shaped by attention, media, and technology, without reducing the Gospel itself to a product or strategy?
A personal path into communication
Before working in the church, my path was quite different. After studying marketing and economics at university, I began my career in media buying, working for the formidable Harold Mitchell at a time when he was establishing a new ‘e-company’, as it was called back then. It was a formative and eye-opening experience for a young and naïve graduate, offering insight into how organisations seek to communicate, reach people, and connect their message in a way that resonates.
At that stage, as someone who would have described himself as agnostic, I could not have imagined that my path would one day lead me to serve in the church. Looking back, however, I can see that what I learned in those early years was not without value.
It has helped me to appreciate, through both the strengths and shortcomings of what I encountered in those early years, that communication at its best is not a matter of manipulation or persuasion, but of authenticity, meaning, and drawing attention to what is enduring and true. Its purpose is not to manufacture interest, but to allow something genuine and meaningful to be seen, recognised, and received. There is a clear resonance here with St Paul’s words to the Corinthians, where he speaks of renouncing “the shameful things one hides” and instead commending the Gospel “by the open statement of the truth” (2 Cor 4:2).
Beyond reputation management
This also highlights an important distinction in the life of the church. Communications, as it is often practiced, can become largely reactive, focused on managing issues, responding to crises, and safeguarding reputation. These are necessary responsibilities, though they do not exhaust the church’s task. The missionary challenge is not simply to manage perception, but to invite encounter; not merely to maintain institutional presence, but to help people move toward Christ.
What is needed a more outward, missionary attentiveness. In a modest way, reflection on how people encounter messages, form perceptions, and respond to invitation can be valuable here, not as a way of commercialising the Gospel, but as a way of engaging people with greater care and intentionality. It invites us to consider who we are seeking to reach, what they are searching for, and how we might accompany them toward an encounter with Christ. In this sense, it is less about promotion and more about pastoral intentionality, ensuring that the Gospel is not only faithfully proclaimed, but also heard, received, and lived.
In a small way, that is what digital evangelisation is about. It is not marketing in a commercial sense. It is attentiveness to how the Gospel is shared in a way that people today can receive.
The search for meaning in digital spaces
We find ourselves at a significant moment in the life of the church. Increasingly, people are searching for meaning, identity, and faith not by walking through the doors of a parish but by turning to their phones. As affirmed at the recent Synod of Sydney, the growth of search activity, podcasts, and faith-based content on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube points to a quiet but real spiritual curiosity, particularly among young adults. Before people encounter a priest, a parishioner, or a community, they often encounter a screen. This presents an invitation for the Church to respond.
As affirmed by that synod, if the church is not present in that space, the story of Jesus is either unheard or told by others without its fullness. Digital evangelisation, therefore, is not manipulation but articulation. It is the task of communicating in whom we are known and loved, why we exist, and why His Gospel matters. It is the church learning to express her mission within the culture of our time.
Pope Leo XIV and human dignity
In this context, Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas offers us an important framework for the church’s engagement with technology and AI. The Holy Father cautions against forms of digital culture that diminish the human person or replace authentic relationship with simulation and control. His emphasis on protecting human dignity within rapidly changing technological systems is especially relevant for those seeking to evangelise in digital spaces today.
For parishes and local communities, I would suggest that the goal in embracing this mission is not to be everywhere but to be intentional. The question is no longer whether we should be online but how we meet people meaningfully in the spaces they inhabit.
The journey from curiosity to belonging
Australian bishops welcome Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical ‘Magnifica humanitas’
One way to approach this is to consider the journey of someone new to the parish. It often begins with a simple moment of awareness, perhaps a passing encounter online or an invitation from a friend, which leads them to explore further. As interest grows, this can develop into engagement, where a person takes an initial step such as attending an enquiry night, an Alpha course, or a parish gathering. From there, formation provides a more intentional space for learning and reflection, through RCIA, small groups, or faith formation programs.
This can lead into participation, as the person begins to attend Sunday Mass regularly, builds relationships, and becomes involved in parish ministries or community life. Over time, this journey matures into a desire to share the faith with others, whether through inviting a friend, offering their own testimony, or serving in the life of the parish. This reflects the lived experience of many who come to faith today, gradual, relational, and shaped through a series of meaningful encounters.
For parishes, this invites honest reflection. Where are we strongest along this journey, and where do people tend to fall away? Many communities offer rich opportunities for participation, particularly through the sacraments and ministries, though they may struggle to create awareness beyond those already connected. Others generate attention through digital activity or events, yet without a clear invitation into deeper formation or parish life, people can drift away, sometimes even soon after initiation.
Evangelisation begins with encounter
One of the church’s enduring insights into evangelisation is that the work of the Gospel begins not with outcomes, but with engagement or encounter. Christ does not begin by instructing from a distance. He draws near, asks, listens, and engages the hearts of those He meets. “What are you looking for?” He asks the first disciples, inviting not compliance but a response born of desire (John 1:38).
This pattern is reflected in the church’s teaching. Evangelisation is not simply the communication of ideas but the sharing of a living reality, one that first attracts before it is fully understood. As the late Pope Francis reminded us, the church grows by “attraction”, not proselytism.
In this light, engagement is not a technique but a participation in Christ’s own way of relating. If people are not first drawn, if their curiosity is not awakened or their hearts stirred, they are unlikely to take a further step. Digital evangelisation, then, cannot be reduced to the broadcasting of information. It seeks to open a space for encounter, to foster connection, and to invite a response to the Gospel.
Understanding the digital ecology
As we have continued to learn in this space, it is clear that different groups require different approaches. Young adults often encounter the church through short-form video, podcasts, or personal testimonies shared online. They are drawn to authenticity and lived experience. Couples and families frequently seek practical support, parenting guidance, or a sense of community, often during quieter moments late in the evening. Parish leaders are looking for clarity, tools, and encouragement as they seek to renew their communities.
A basic understanding of the digital ‘ecology’ can assist here. Distribution channels such as social media, YouTube, and search platforms create visibility and initial contact. These platforms often serve as the front door of evangelisation. Increasingly, short-form video plays a significant role in discovery.
Alongside these are ‘owned’ channels, including parish websites, email newsletters, registration systems, and in-person events. These are platforms and touchpoints that the parish or organisation directly manages and shapes, allowing for deeper relationships, clearer communication, and a more intentional invitation into the life of the community. It is here that interest can develop into commitment.
From content to journey
Pope Leo XIV tells Vatican press conference AI must be disarmed for humanity’s sake
Many parishes are already active online, often with a genuine desire to serve their communities. Common efforts include sharing Mass times, feast day reflections, and parish notices, which are important in supporting those who are already connected. Alongside this, there is an opportunity to gently expand that presence to include content that also reaches those who may be searching or exploring faith. A simple testimony, a clear explanation of the Mass, or a thoughtful response to a common question can provide a welcoming point of entry for those taking an initial step.
In this way, attention to digital evangelisation invites a shift from content to journey. The focus becomes how our communications can support a stage of discipleship and gently invite a next step. This reflects how many people come to faith today, in a gradual and relational way, shaped through a series of meaningful encounters.
In a crowded digital environment, what stands out is not complexity but authenticity, a witness that is recognisably real, arising from within a Christian life being lived and therefore capable of being received as true. A simple and honest story of conversion often carries more weight than a highly produced message. A parish that shares real stories of faith and encounter is far more likely to resonate than one that communicates only announcements.
Simple but intentional steps
The church has always adapted her methods while remaining faithful to her mission. Today, that adaptation includes the digital space. In good news and in practical terms, this does not require large budgets or specialised expertise. Many effective initiatives are simple. A short weekly reflection from the parish priest. A welcoming, clear and up-to-date website. A follow-up message to visitors. A small team supporting communication with purpose. Over time, these steps can significantly expand a parish’s reach.
Of course, the rubber hits the road in the carparks, pews and halls of parish life. If a parish is not welcoming, responsive and mission-focused, digital efforts will have limited effect. Those who make contact online will, in time we hope, encounter the parish in person and so the experience must hold together with integrity.
Faithfulness in a digital age
Ultimately, the challenge before us is not technological complexity but missionary intentionality. As Pope Leo XIV reminds us in Magnifica Humanitas, technology must remain at the service of human dignity and authentic relationship. We must resist becoming merely “user tools of an algorithmic order” and ensure that our digital spaces foster communion rather than isolation.
The real question, then, is what concrete step a parish, ministry, or apostolate might take to help move someone from curiosity to encounter. Digital evangelisation can be a valuable instrument in this mission, and the church has an important responsibility to witness to the prudent and genuinely human use of emerging technologies. In this sense, digital evangelisation is not ultimately about mastering platforms or keeping pace with innovation, but about faithfulness to the church’s mission within the digital culture of our time – and faithfulness to the truth of the human person in Christ.
We can have confidence that the same Lord who called the first disciples continues to call people today, often through the digital spaces that now shape so much of contemporary life. Our task is not simply to occupy those spaces, but to inhabit them with attentiveness, authenticity, and a willingness to accompany others patiently toward Christ. In this way, even the smallest digital gesture, a personal story shared online, a thoughtful reply, a welcoming message, a short invitation to prayer or community, can become the beginning of genuine encounter, opening a path from screen to relationship, from curiosity to belonging, and ultimately toward Christ.
