Speaking to young people Oct. 31, Pope Leo XIV urged those gathered to recognize the indispensability of in-person community and how social media falls short in helping develop one’s faith life.
The Pontiff was reflecting on the themes of participation, synodality, and mission during the audience with members of the International Youth Advisory Body (IYAB), which is connected to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life. IYAB’s role, according to the Pontiff, is “to bring to the Holy See’s attention the ‘point of view of young people’ on various issues that lie at the heart of the Church’s mission.”
“You know that in recent years many young people have approached the faith through social media, successful programs and popular online Christian witnesses,” Pope Leo said. “The danger is that a faith discovered online is limited to individual experiences, which may be intellectually and emotionally reassuring, but are never ‘embodied.’ Such experiences remain ‘disembodied,’ detached from the ‘ecclesial body.’
“Nor are they lived alongside others in real-life situations, relationships or sharing. All too often, social media algorithms merely create a sounding board for individuals, picking up on personal preferences and tastes, and ‘sending them back’ magnified and enriched with appealing proposals. Yet, everyone remains alone with themselves, prisoners of their own inclinations and projections.”
Speaking about synodality, Pope Leo emphasized that the Church should welcome the charisms and gifts specific to young people and listen to their voices.
“At the same time, for young people, the synodal Church is also a challenge, a catalyst we might say, since it encourages them not to live their faith in isolation,” Pope Leo said.
Young people can combat this social media-worsened isolation through community, according to the Pontiff.
“In this sense, experiences of lived synodality overcome the barriers of the self and encourage young people to become effective members of the family of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo said. “They allow us to ‘live the faith together and to show our love by living in community and sharing with other young people our affection, our time, our faith and our troubles. The Church offers many different possibilities for living our faith in community, for everything is easier when we do it together.’”
Pope Leo encouraged the young people to be close to the Heart of Christ, through prayer and the sacraments. He also emphasized that properly living out synodality by listening to the Holy Spirit “leads to mission.”
“The Holy Spirit always seeks to guide us into all truth, that we may ever more deeply welcome Jesus, who is the Truth,” Pope Leo said. “The Spirit reminds us of everything Jesus has said to us, and makes His words relevant today. The Spirit, therefore, guides us towards mission.”
He encouraged the young people to learn how to share the Gospel through prayer in community, listening, and discussion, and to have open hearts that can hear the Holy Spirit’s inspirations and the hopes of each person they encounter.
“You must look beyond appearances in order to seek the true answers that give meaning to life,” Pope Leo said. “You must have hearts that are open to God’s call and not engrossed in your own plans, and are willing to understand and sympathize before forming judgements. The concept of mission also entails freedom from fear, because the Lord loves to call us to forge new paths. In this sense, as young people, you can be leaders of creativity and courage.”