Pope Leo XIV urged young Catholics to resist the growing trend of isolating their faith behind screens, calling instead for authentic community and active participation in the life of the Church.
Speaking to members of the International Youth Advisory Body (IYAB), a group linked to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, the Holy Father encouraged young people to embrace synodality, mission, and participation as a response to the loneliness and fragmentation often amplified by social media.
“In recent years, many young people have approached the faith through social media, successful programs, and popular online Christian witnesses,” Pope Leo said, according to Vatican News. “However, the danger with this is that a faith discovered online is limited to individual experiences, which may be intellectually and emotionally reassuring, but are never ‘embodied.’”
The Pope warned that digital platforms can easily trap young people in cycles of self-focus rather than community. “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,” he said.
A Call to Live Synodality
Pope Leo described synodality—the Church’s call to walk together in communion—as the antidote to isolation. He said the experience of “lived synodality” helps young Catholics “overcome the barriers of the self and become effective members of the family of Jesus Christ.”
“You represent many of your peers, and through you, they also can ‘speak’ to the Church,” he told the young delegates. “Your voice is heard and taken seriously. Your presence and contribution are invaluable.”
The Pope encouraged the IYAB to help ensure that the Church hears “the voice of the weak, the poor, and the lonely, refugees and those who struggle to integrate into society or access educational opportunities.”
Faith Rooted in Mission, Not Politics
In his prepared remarks, the Holy Father emphasized that authentic participation in the Church must come from a spiritual, not political or ideological, foundation.
“Where does authentic ecclesial participation come from?” he wrote. “It stems from being close to the Heart of Christ. Its origin, then, is spiritual, not ideological or political.”
He urged young people to be “leaders of creativity and courage,” open to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to “forge new paths” of evangelization and service.
Concern for the Suffering of Others
Pope Leo also called the group to a deeper compassion modeled on Christ Himself. “The Lord always carries the whole world in His heart,” he said. “This is the source of participation.”
He invited the youth to “become Jesus’ friends through prayer, the Sacraments, and daily life” so they may begin “to feel as He feels” and become “concerned for, and touched by, the suffering of others.”
“This involvement,” he added, “is a sign of human and spiritual maturity. While children are only concerned with their own needs, mature persons know how to share the problems of others and make them their own.”
The Pope concluded by reminding young Catholics that their role in the Church is vital for its renewal. “A synodal Church wants to listen to what the Holy Spirit says to young people,” he said. “Your charisms, the gifts specific to your age and sensibilities, are indispensable to the Church’s mission.”
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