Catholic influencers must communicate the truth “always with love and charity,” a priest said Friday, urging them to follow the example of Saint Carlo Acutis during the visit of the teen saint’s pericardium relic.
Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo, who brought Acutis’ relic to the Philippines, said the young saint showed that online influence begins not with popularity, but with a sincere desire to share the truth with love.
He said that real online evangelization demands desire, vision, and daily discipline, reminding them that influence comes with responsibility, especially in a digital world where messages spread quickly and shape lives.
“So these things to make us good communicators… means speaking the truth, but always with love and charity,” Figueiredo said.
A room full of online missionaries fell silent as the relic of Acutis — often called the “patron saint of the internet” — arrived at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center.
The pericardium relic arrived in Manila on Nov. 27 for an 18-day pilgrimage across Luzon.
Figueiredo, a British priest ordained in New Jersey, worked under three popes while in Rome. Now based in Assisi, where Acutis is buried, he travels the world promoting devotion to the video-game-playing Italian teen known for his love of the Eucharist and the poor.
He described Acutis as “our role model as a great communicator, as a great influencer, especially for this generation.”
Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon of Caceres, the new chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Communications, also addressed the second gathering of “Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers.”
He said the commission exists to help dioceses and local churches carry out their mission and asked content creators to join that work.
“We need your help… particularly in this field,” Alarcon said.
He told the more than 100 participants that the goal of the summit was not just skills training but a return to the heart of their mission.
“It is to bring us to the source of our mission,” he said. “We hope to enter the ‘digital upper room,’ that we may encounter Jesus. We are not in search of any avatar, robot, or AI tool. We have come to encounter Jesus who calls us all.”
The archbishop reminded influencers that the digital world “is not a parallel world,” but a real space where people seek connection, truth, and meaning.
“It is vast and wide, and the challenges are also vast,” he said. “We are called to safeguard truth, to forge authentic relationships, to find meaning.”
Alarcon said that while intelligence and technology continue to evolve, evangelizers must bring something deeper.
“It is not simply intelligence that is needed,” he added. “In the digital continent, we bring empathy, compassion, and love. For there we hear the cries, the pains, the anguish, the dreams, and the joys of our brothers and sisters.”
