By OSV News
(OSV News) — The following is the full text of the address to Catholic digital missionaries and influencers given by Pope Leo XIV July 29, 2025, at St. Peter’s Basilica.
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In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, peace be with you!
Dear brothers and sisters, we have began with this greeting: peace be with you!
How much we need peace in these times marked by hostility and war, which in turn calls us to give witness to the greeting of the Risen Lord: “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19). May his peace be with all of us, in our hearts and in our actions.
This is the mission of the Church: to proclaim peace to the world! The peace that comes from the Lord, who conquered death, brings us God ‘s forgiveness, gives us the life of the Father, and shows us the way of Love!
1. This is the mission that the Church entrusts to each of you who have come to Rome for your Jubilee. You are here to renew your commitment to nourish Christian hope in social networks and online spaces. Peace needs to be sought, proclaimed, and shared everywhere, both in the places where we see the tragedy of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of life and the desire for introspection and the spiritual life. Perhaps, today more than ever, we need missionary disciples who convey the gift of the Risen Lord to the world; who voice to the ends of the earth the hope that Jesus gives us (cf. Acts 1:3-8); and who go wherever there is a heart that waits, seeks, and is in need. Yes, to the ends of the earth, to the farthest reaches, where there is no hope.
2. There is a second challenge in this mission: always look for the “suffering flesh of Christ” in every brother and sister you encounter online. Today we find ourselves in a new culture, deeply characterized and formed by technology. It is up to us -– it is up to each one of you -– to ensure that this culture remains human.
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. 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.
Faced with cultural changes throughout history, the Church has never remained passive; she has always sought to illuminate every age with the light and hope of Christ by discerning good from evil and what was good from what needed to be changed, transformed, and purified.
Today we are in a culture where the technological dimension is present in almost everything, especially as the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence will mark a new era in the lives of individuals and society as a whole. 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. 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. This will entail seeking out those who suffer, those who need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds, get back on their feet and find meaning in their lives. Above all, this process begins with accepting our own poverty, letting go of all pretense and recognizing our own inherent need for the Gospel. And this process is a communal endeavor.
3. This brings us to the third invitation in this mission, which I extend to all of you: “go and mend the nets.” Jesus called his first apostles while they were mending their fishing nets (cf. Mt 4:21-22). He asks the same of us today.
Indeed, he asks us to weave other nets: networks of relationships, of love, of gratuitous sharing where friendship is profound and authentic; networks where we can mend what has been broken, heal from loneliness, not focus on the number of followers, but experience the greatness of infinite Love in every encounter; networks that give space to others more than to ourselves, where no “bubble” can silence the voices of the weakest; networks that liberate and save; networks that help us rediscover the beauty of looking into each other ‘s eyes; networks of truth. In this way, every story of shared goodness will be a knot in a single, immense network: the network of networks, the network of God.
Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism. Centre yourselves on Christ, so as to overcome the logic of the world, of fake news, of frivolity, with the beauty and light of Truth (cf. Jn8:31-32).
Before concluding with a blessing and commending your witness to the Lord, I would like to thank you for all the good you have done and continue to do in your lives: for pursuing your dreams, for your love for the Lord Jesus and your love for the Church, for the help you give to those who suffer, and for your journey along the virtual highways.
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