Latest news with #StPetersBasilica
New York Times
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Influencer Missionaries
The Catholic Church is trying to get influencers — women with fashion accounts and 'hot priests' — to serve as its digital missionaries. In a first, the Vatican gathered more than 1,000 content creators last week in an auditorium near St. Peter's Basilica. They danced, took selfies and filmed the stage, which flashed in neon pink and blue. Pope Leo made an appearance, sparking a photo frenzy. 'I'm high off this experience,' said Mackenzie Hunter, a 26-year-old from St. Paul, Minn. Her Instagram account, 'acaffeinatedcatholic,' has about 25,000 followers. Christianity has a branding problem. Over the past 25 years, tens of millions of Americans left the faith. While that has stalled recently, no one wants to go to a party that seems to be winding down. So churches are turning to influencers to build hype. The summit is an example of a broader trend: Religious institutions and leaders are increasingly relying on digital evangelism, leveraging social media to spread their message to new generations. Influencers say it's working, and it may be part of why churches in the United States have seen some people return to the pews after decades of declining attendance. What's happening? Churches are turning to the internet to reach new audiences. Evangelical pastors are bringing their famously high-production sermons into vertical video. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is presenting a diverse, younger image to its 1.4 million Instagram followers. Some Christian influencers see their mission as inspiring people — especially young people — to attend church services and Bible studies. Others say they simply aim to help religion seem less cloistered and more accessible. 'Making Catholicism feel normal is really important to me,' explained Eliza Monts, who is 26, lives in Charleston, S.C., and mostly posts videos of her life with her husband. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Independent
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Pope Leo XIV gets rock star's welcome at Catholic influencer festival
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday received a rock star's welcome at the Vatican's festival of Catholic influencers — priests, nuns and ordinary faithful who use their social media presence to preach and teach the faith — as he urged them to ensure that human relations don't suffer with the spread of digital ecosystems and artificial intelligence. History's first American pope was mobbed by hundreds of influencers, their cellphones hoisted high to stream the encounter, when he arrived in St. Peter's Basilica after a special Mass. The pilgrims have descended on Rome for a special Holy Year celebration of so-called 'digital missionaries,' part of the Vatican's weeklong Jubilee for young people that culminates this weekend with a vigil and Mass in a vast field on Rome's outskirts. Leo thanked the young people for using their digital platforms to spread the faith, and he gamely posed for selfies. But he warned them about neglecting human relationships in their pursuit of clicks and followers, and cautioned them to not fall prey to fake news and the 'frivolity' of online encounters. 'It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter between hearts,' Leo said in a speech that showed his ease switching from Italian to Spanish to English. 'Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism.' 'It is up to us – to each one of you – to ensure that this culture remains human,' he said. 'Our mission – your mission – is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do so together' in what he called the only networks that really matter: of friendship, love and the 'network of God.' Warnings against going off-message For the past two days, the Vatican's message to the young influencers has been one of thanks for their social media evangelizing, but also a warning to not allow their posting to go off-message or to neglect the human dimension of all encounters. For Leo, the issue is particularly heartfelt since he has said that addressing the threat to humanity posed by AI will be a priority of his pontificate. The Rev. David McCallum, an American Jesuit who heads a leadership development program and presented Monday, held periodic breaks with instructions for those in the audience to actually speak with the person next to them, for up to 10 minutes at a time. Cardinal Antonio Tagle, the head of the Vatican's evangelization office, urged the influencers to avoid anything that smacks of false advertising, coercion or brainwashing in their posting, or to use their platform to make money. He noted that he himself had been victim of a fake video advertising arthritis medicine. 'Brothers and sisters, be discerning,' Tagle told the influencers in his homily at Tuesday's Mass. A mini World Youth Day in Rome Tuesday began with groups of influencers and young pilgrims passing through the basilica's Holy Door, a rite of passage for the estimated 32 million people participating in the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year celebrations. This week, downtown Rome swarmed with energetic masses of teenage Catholic scouts, church and Catholic school groups. It all had the vibe of a scaled-down World Youth Day, the once-every-three-year Catholic Woodstock festival that was inaugurated by St. John Paul II. The most recent one in Lisbon, Portugal went viral thanks to the Rev. Guilherme Peixoto, a village priest in northern Portugal who also happens to be a DJ. He's in Rome this week, though it's not clear if he will reprise his now-famous set that woke the young people up before Pope Francis' final Mass in Lisbon. In it, he spliced into the set both St. John Paul II's exhortation to young people to 'be not afraid' and Francis' appeal in Lisbon that the church has room for everyone, 'todos, todos, todos.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Associated Press
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV gets rock star's welcome at Catholic influencer festival
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday received a rock star's welcome at the Vatican's festival of Catholic influencers — priests, nuns and ordinary faithful who use their social media presence to preach and teach the faith — as he urged them to ensure that human relations don't suffer with the spread of digital ecosystems and artificial intelligence. History's first American pope was mobbed by hundreds of influencers, their cellphones hoisted high to stream the encounter, when he arrived in St. Peter's Basilica after a special Mass. The pilgrims have descended on Rome for a special Holy Year celebration of so-called 'digital missionaries,' part of the Vatican's weeklong Jubilee for young people that culminates this weekend with a vigil and Mass in a vast field on Rome's outskirts. Leo thanked the young people for using their digital platforms to spread the faith, and he gamely posed for selfies. But he warned them about neglecting human relationships in their pursuit of clicks and followers, and cautioned them to not fall prey to fake news and the 'frivolity' of online encounters. 'It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter between hearts,' Leo said in a speech that showed his ease switching from Italian to Spanish to English. 'Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism.' 'It is up to us – to each one of you – to ensure that this culture remains human,' he said. 'Our mission – your mission – is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do so together' in what he called the only networks that really matter: of friendship, love and the 'network of God.' Warnings against going off-message For the past two days, the Vatican's message to the young influencers has been one of thanks for their social media evangelizing, but also a warning to not allow their posting to go off-message or to neglect the human dimension of all encounters. For Leo, the issue is particularly heartfelt since he has said that addressing the threat to humanity posed by AI will be a priority of his pontificate. The Rev. David McCallum, an American Jesuit who heads a leadership development program and presented Monday, held periodic breaks with instructions for those in the audience to actually speak with the person next to them, for up to 10 minutes at a time. Cardinal Antonio Tagle, the head of the Vatican's evangelization office, urged the influencers to avoid anything that smacks of false advertising, coercion or brainwashing in their posting, or to use their platform to make money. He noted that he himself had been victim of a fake video advertising arthritis medicine. 'Brothers and sisters, be discerning,' Tagle told the influencers in his homily at Tuesday's Mass. A mini World Youth Day in Rome Tuesday began with groups of influencers and young pilgrims passing through the basilica's Holy Door, a rite of passage for the estimated 32 million people participating in the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year celebrations. This week, downtown Rome swarmed with energetic masses of teenage Catholic scouts, church and Catholic school groups. It all had the vibe of a scaled-down World Youth Day, the once-every-three-year Catholic Woodstock festival that was inaugurated by St. John Paul II. The most recent one in Lisbon, Portugal went viral thanks to the Rev. Guilherme Peixoto, a village priest in northern Portugal who also happens to be a DJ. He's in Rome this week, though it's not clear if he will reprise his now-famous set that woke the young people up before Pope Francis' final Mass in Lisbon. In it, he spliced into the set both St. John Paul II's exhortation to young people to 'be not afraid' and Francis' appeal in Lisbon that the church has room for everyone, 'todos, todos, todos.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The National
29-06-2025
- General
- The National
Best photos of June 29: From beach clean-up event in Mexico to traditional Rapa das Bestas festival in Spain
Members of the clergy attend a mass on the day of Saints Peter and Paul feast at St Peter's Basilica in The Vatican. AFP
Free Malaysia Today
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Pope Leo appeals for ‘reason' amid Israel-Iran airstrikes, calls for dialogue
Pope Leo XIV told an audience in St. Peter's Basilica he was following the situation with 'great concern'. (AP pic) VATICAN CITY : Pope Leo appealed today for authorities in Iran and Israel to act with 'reason' after airstrikes between the two countries killed dozens and sent civilians into shelters, and called on the nations to pursue dialogue. Leo, in one of the strongest peace appeals yet of his five-week papacy, told an audience in St. Peter's Basilica he was following the situation with 'great concern'. 'In such a delicate moment, I strongly wish to renew an appeal to responsibility and to reason,' said the pope. 'The commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue to build a lasting peace, founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good,' he said. 'No one should ever threaten the existence of another,' said Leo. 'It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all.' Leo was elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis and is the first pope from the US. Unlike Francis, who often spoke off the cuff at public events, Leo is more cautious with words and almost always speaks from a prepared text. The pope read aloud his appeal today in Italian from a piece of paper. Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran early on Friday, targeting commanders, military targets and nuclear sites in what it called a 'preemptive strike' to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons programme. Iran, which denies that its uranium enrichment activities are part of a secret weapons programme, retaliated by launching waves of missiles at Israel, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.
