On Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV addressed a crowd of digital missionaries and Catholic influencers about the responsibilities and challenges of their ministry.
Social Media
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Catholic influencers have a media theory (and evangelization) problem
Do the social networks that Catholic influencers are forming online reflect the values of the Gospel or those of the platform?
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Trump, Elon Musk and the dangers of ‘god mode’ tech powers in government
DOGE is attempting to undermine a congressional check on presidential power. It is rewriting the Constitution.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Cut back on social media for Lent—and then for the rest of the year, too
Give up the “futile distractions” of online life. Abstinence would benefit your mental health and your pocketbook, as well as the larger community if enough of us did it.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
A Black Captain America is an exciting concept. But ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ is aggressively mediocre.
The latest installment in the “Captain America” franchise feels thematically confused and clumsy in its execution.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Facebook was right to ditch fact-checking—but it should learn from the limits of Elon Musk’s ‘Community Notes’
The previous fact-checking/moderation practices at both Meta and X were problematic and in need of an overhaul. The Community Notes alternative holds promise—if it is available to everyone.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Facebook, fact-checking and the case for giving legacy media another chance
You know who is not getting rid of fact-checking? The editors and journalists in the much-derided legacy media.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Never die? The dangers of transhumanism in the 21st century
Laws aimed at providing “death with dignity” and internet influencers promising to extend life unnaturally are actually two sides of the same coin: In both circumstances, humans usurp a role intended for God.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Catholic ‘influencers’ are not evangelizers, according to research group in Brazil
The only way to counter the excessive impact that influencers have on the life of the church is to promote more critical thinking among the Catholic faithful, who must be able to recognize attempts to manipulate the faith for political and economic ends.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis says tax billionaires, stop sports betting in fiery economics speech
In a talk to leaders of popular grassroots movements, Pope Francis said, “It is often precisely the wealthiest who oppose the realization of social justice or integral ecology out of sheer greed.”