Traditional religious practice may be declining in Spain but a new wave of young Catholics are gaining visibility online. Through social media, music, and viral content, these self-styled ‘digital missionaries’ share their faith and build communities beyond church walls. But while any young Catholic can create content about their faith, the title of Catholic influencer or digital missionary isn’t granted by anyone. We meet some of the most influential ‘ digital missionaries from Spain, explores what drives them, and whether they represent a new form of evangelisation.
Sister Marta is a semi-cloistered nun and a TikToker with more than 190,000 followers. As well as creating reels answering religious questions, she has also created a training program for young women wondering if they have a religious calling. “Did you know you can do work experience as a nun?” she asks in one of her reels. “A young woman who wonders if the Lord is calling her can come and live in this monastery for a few days”. Since the programme started, they have recruited two new novices. “I spoke to my Mother Superior before we started this programme and said “Since young people don’t come to church, creating content for social networks will put us literally in their pockets.”
Quique Mira created Aute, a foundation to connect young people like him with the Church and which he now runs with his wife, the influencer MarÌa Lorenzo. They also run a marketing agency specialising in Catholic content. Meanwhile digital missionary Carla Restoy creates content for her followers explaining, among other things, why yoga is not compatible with the Christian faith. She is a member of Hakuna, a Catholic movement guided by priest Josè Pedro Manglano, former member of Opus Dei.
Last summer, the Vatican organised a social media summit for influencers and called on them to create content for those who ’need to know the Lord’. But, as religious anthropologist Manuel Delgada explains, “there are too many influencers with too many speeches that the Church, as an institution, is not in a position to control”. As long as the intention is to impart knowledge and guide people interested in the gospel, then it can be sanctioned. “But when we cross the red line is that this intention already had an impact beyond the spiritual, be it political or economic.”