Particle.news
Download on the App Store
5 ARTICLES
·
10h ago

Vatican Launches Jubilee Summit for 'Hot Priest' Influencers

Drawing more than 1,000 clergy alongside digital missionaries, the Vatican seeks to reverse youth attendance declines through visually driven outreach.

Priests wait near St. Peter's Basilica, on the second day of the conclave to elect the new pope, at the Vatican, May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
Image
Priests
More than 1,000 priests and friars have been invited to Rome amid declining congregation numbers worldwide.

Overview

  • The two-day summit in Rome convened over 1,000 priests, friars and social-media missionaries on July 28–29 as part of the Vatican’s jubilee year.
  • The event formalizes a social-media evangelism strategy in response to the drop of Christian identification below 50% in England and Wales in the 2021 census.
  • Influencers such as Fathers Giuseppe Fusari, Cosimo Schena and Ambrogio Mazza and Anglican Reverend Chris Lee will share tactics honed on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
  • Recent Bible Society polling shows church attendance among 18–24-year-olds rising from 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024, signaling growing youth engagement.
  • Papal backing of digital outreach, advanced by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo XIV, underpins the church’s pivot toward visually driven online engagement.