The Archdiocese of Madrid has gathered digital missionaries and parish social media managers this weekend to prepare for the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV, in a meeting aimed at coordinating the Church’s presence in the digital realm.
According to the Archdiocese itself, the sessions served to reflect on evangelization on social media and to articulate a common strategy ahead of the papal visit scheduled for June.
A pastoral approach centered on “shepherding”
During the meeting, Cardinal José Cobo emphasized that digital mission should not be oriented toward “making noise” or gaining followers, but toward “shepherding,” that is, caring for, accompanying, and fostering communion.
The proposal underscores a pastoral dimension of communication that seeks to avoid purely media-driven or confrontational logic on social networks.
The selection of participants, an open question
Beyond the content of the meeting, the call leaves unclear the criteria followed for selecting the participants.
In the Catholic digital sphere, there are priests and creators with a consolidated presence and broad audiences who were not part of these sessions. An absence that points to a primarily institutional approach.
Unity and coordination in the digital mission
In the main lecture, Monsignor Lucio Adrián Ruiz, from the Dicastery for Communication, defended the need for coordinated action and warned against individual dynamics that could fragment the mission.
“No one is a lone gunman in the Church,” he stated, insisting on the importance of unity as a condition for effective ecclesial communication.
A strategy in development
The sessions included working tables on narrative, editorial calendar, and shared resources, as well as a panel of experiences with various profiles present on social networks.
The objective, according to the Archdiocese, is to advance toward more articulated communication ahead of the papal visit.
At the same time, the meeting leaves on the table a fundamental question: how to integrate into that strategy those who already have greater reach in the digital realm.