Pilgrims travel to Rome for Jubilee of Digital Missionaries

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 29, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

As 500,000 people gather in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth, the crowds are also joined by pilgrims on a mission to evangelize with the help of social media and the internet.

Jonathan Strate, the president and CEO of Catholic media and publishing company Ascension, said the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries is “an exciting moment for the Church.” He added: “This is the first time that they’ve done something like this.”

Speaking to “EWTN News Nightly” on July 28, Strate said the digital jubilee, held July 28–29, is “expecting about 1,000 people from maybe 40 to 50 different countries, all who feel called to digital evangelization,” which is important for the Catholic mission, as “the Church exists to evangelize.”

Ascension, which is known for the “Bible in a Year” podcast among numerous other digital offerings, became involved in the two-day event to bring its nearly 25 years of digital media experience to the table. The organization is “very familiar with using the digital world to reach everyone,” Strate said.

The Jubilee of Digital Missionaries was not necessarily intended to coincide with the Jubilee of Youth, but since the young generation is so active online, Strate said it “makes a lot of sense.”

In Rome, the digital missionaries “will get together to share best practices and just really spur the conversation and be influenced by each other.” Strate shared that a number of Ascension contributors, including podcaster Katie McGrady, will attend to discuss the matter and then share the key takeaways.

It is “so important” to have these discussions because “digital evangelization” helps us to “meet people where they are, and where they are is existing online,” Strate said. “That’s where they’re doing their own searching.”

“So if the Church isn’t there, then the Church doesn’t have a voice in all of that. So you really want to use this to reach people where they are in as personal of a means as you can.”

“When this started, maybe 20-plus years ago with the advent of the internet, it was easy to start to bring things that were traditionally in print and put them online. You can make infinite copies, in effect, and have that all available and reach people that you never were able to reach.”

“But 20 years later … it’s switched, I’d say probably to a more personalized kind of faith formation. So something where … it feels like somebody’s speaking with me. The content is coming out on a daily, many-times-a-day basis and so you can really feel more connected with somebody.”

The Jubilee of Digital Missionaries is only the start of the evangelizing mission, Strate said.

“In the future, getting to bring … AI into the picture, starting to think about, ‘Well, how can that really help deliver the right message to the right person at the right time?’ It’s really a lot to look forward to.”