Asian Church should emphasise youth, evangelise social media

Nov 11, 2022

BANGKOK: The Church in Asia needs to respond to the changing landscape of social media and artificial intelligence to evangelise young people and communities, said top Vatican Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

Social media has changed “the self-identity of youth...their feelings of belonging and empathy for others,” Cardinal Tagle, the Pro-Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelisation, said while addressing the gathering of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) October 29.


Cardinal Tagle spoke about the impact of social media and artificial intelligence on evangelisation. The speed and limits of social media impact the ability of young people “to infer, critically analyse, and empathise”, he said.

He also highlighted the importance of deep reading and the danger of digital crimes and the monopoly of media by businesses.

Social media “is not only a means for connectedness but a powerful tool for creating a new humanity,” he told more than 200 bishops and delegates from 29 nations.

“We realise that the youth have already populated the world wide web, just as our forebears braved the seas and conquered mountains to explore and discover new habitats. Because of the young, Jesus is already on the web,” the cardinal said.

“The Church of the young has become the Church swimming and navigating the new frontier of the web,” he said stressing the need to use new media technologies for evangelisation.

Cardinal Tagle also addressed a press conference along with FABC president Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar, Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the convener of the general conference, and Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak of Thailand, the host of the meet.

Cardinal Tagle stressed the role of social media in evangelisation and appreciated using it for liturgy in emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it should not replace the sacramental structure of the Church, he said.

“The sacramental structure of the Church and of evangelisation would demand that when an emergency situation is over, and people could gather and then we could touch each other again, we could touch water again,” Catholics should go back to normal sacramental life.

“We are not diminishing the contribution of the virtual, the digital. During the pandemic, it helped. Now, I think it’s a challenge to those engaged in the mission of the Church online to learn also from the pandemic,” said the cardinal. -- ucanews.com