The Impact of the Digital World on Missionary Involvement Today

When we speak about the digital world, we are not simply referring to a set of tools or platforms. We are standing before something much larger — almost like the discovery of a new continent. In the 16th and 17th centuries, explorers set out across unknown seas, convinced that beyond the horizon lay lands they had never imagined. Today, we find ourselves in a similar moment. A vast new world has opened before us: the digital world, the virtual continent where millions of people now live, think, relate, and search for meaning. It is as an entire ecosystem created by digital technology.

If mission means going where people are, then we cannot ignore this new continent. From the early days of his pontificate, Pope Francis, of blessed memory, had been calling the Church to “missionary outreach.” He called the ecclesial community to “step out of its comfort zone and have the courage to reach out to all the peripheries that need the light of the Gospel.” For generations, we had understood those peripheries mainly as the most remote corners of the earth — places difficult to reach, geographically or culturally. Yet Pope Francis also reminded us of another kind of frontier: the existential peripheries, the places where people feel unseen, unheard, wounded, or searching for meaning. Today, a new periphery has emerged that is not defined by distance but by connection. The digital world has become one of the great frontiers of our time — a space where people gather, form relationships, express their hopes and fears, and voice the deepest questions of the human heart. It is often precisely here, in this vast and restless digital continent, that many dwell in existential loneliness or longing. To ignore this periphery would be to overlook one of the most urgent mission fields of our age.

This theme has also been taken up strongly by the Synod on Synodality, which speaks of the digital culture as a “crucial dimension of the Church’s witness in contemporary culture”. The Synod reminds us that digital culture reshapes how we conceive of reality and consequently relate to ourselves, one another, our surroundings, and even to God. It calls the whole Church to ensure that this environment becomes a place of encounter, dialogue, and communion, and it has even dedicated one of its ten Study Groups to the theme of Mission in the Digital Environment.

Our session today invites us to take some steps as explorers of this new continent, this new space — not with fear, but with curiosity; not with nostalgia, but with hope. The digital world is not a threat to our mission. It is one of the places where our mission now unfolds. And like real explorers, we step into this new world with a listening heart, ready to recognize and nurture the seeds of the Gospel already present there.

For this exploration, we are accompanied today by three guides whose congregational charisms place them right at the heart of our theme. This morning, we begin with Fr. Joel Nkongolo, CMF, a Claretian missionary. The Claretian tradition has long been committed to evangelization through communication and the creative use of media, making him a fitting voice to help us reflect on “The Challenges and Opportunities of the Digital Age.”

In the second part of the morning, Br. Dennis Tayo, OFM, of the Franciscan Friars, will lead us into the “Spirituality of Communion in the Digital Age.” The Franciscan way, rooted in simplicity, fraternity, and universal kinship, offers a precious lens for discerning how communion can be nurtured even in virtual spaces.

This afternoon, we will be guided by Sr. Pina Riccieri, FSP, of the daughters of St. Paul. Her congregation’s mission is explicitly dedicated to evangelization through the modern means of communication. She will help us explore “The Impact of Being a Missionary in a Digital World Today,” drawing from a charism shaped by decades of presence on the frontiers of media and digital culture.

As we enter this space of discovery together, we do so with the lenses our tradition offers us: the lens of spirituality, which helps us discern God’s presence in unfamiliar terrain; the lens of mission, which urges us toward every periphery, including the digital ones; the lens of communion, which teaches us to build relationships even in fragmented spaces. My wish is that this day may open our imagination as missionary congregations — helping us see the digital world not as a burden or a threat, but as a place where the Spirit is already at work, inviting us to listen, to accompany, and to witness. May this shared reflection strengthen our capacity to walk together, also in this new continent, with creativity, humility, and renewed missionary joy.

Welcome to this space of encounter!