God doesn't need a ring light
As the Vatican bets on social media stars to revive the Church, religion risks becoming a brand — all style, no sacrifice.
Once upon a time, the Church sparked global schisms over issues like indulgences, papal authority, and whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father or the Son. Fast-forward to 2025 and the Vatican’s newest hope for relevance is a curated selfie from a guy who deadlifts between baptisms.
An article in The Telegraph last month says it all: “Vatican turns to ‘hot priests’ to spread faith.” The article spotlights Catholic influencers like Father Ambrogio Mazzai — a mountain-biking, guitar-strumming priest with over 100,000 Instagram followers — and Father Cosimo Schena, who claims parish attendance doubled after he started posting TikToks.
In July, the Vatican hosted a summit for over 1,000 digital missionaries in Rome to explore modern outreach methods aimed at engaging younger audiences. The message is clear: with pews thinning and faith failing faster, churches are betting that a good jawline and a soft filter can reverse the decline.
While the social media influencer movement spans denominations, Catholicism has certainly become the “it” religion for podcasters and trad-curious influencers. Candace Owens joined the Church in 2024. J.D. Vance in 2019. Russell Brand, Shia LaBeouf, and Jordan Peterson have all publicly flirted with conversion.
But let’s not confuse content with conviction. This feels more like rebranding than revival. As Vanity Fair put it in an article last year, we’ve entered the age of the “Catholic Right’s celebrity-conversion industrial complex.” Faith as lifestyle. Orthodoxy as content strategy. Holiness, now with testosterone and tailored cassocks.
Where’s the repentance? The sacrifice? The humility?
God doesn’t need influencers. He needs our hearts. He asks us — clearly, unironically — to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Real faith doesn’t trend. It doesn’t care about follower counts or engagement metrics. It lives in obedience. If your love of God is going viral, you might be doing it wrong.
If you're looking for meaning, you won't find it in the comment section. You'll find it in stillness and self-examination. You’ll feel it when you forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it — and ask for forgiveness when you don’t either.
The world is confusing enough as it is, and most days it feels like we’re gripped by some very dark forces. What we need is clarity and simplicity. We need to cut through the noise and seek the truth. We need to listen carefully, to each other and to the small voice inside that is the voice of God. We don’t need spiritual influencers.
We need people who actually believe.
I wonder if Archbishop Viganò is a part of the Vatican's social influencer campaign? Think we all know the answer to that one! 😉
I think religions are losing their relevance in recent times. In my own journey I rejected religion at a very early age (5). That's when my (supposed) friend told me I was going to sink down below the ground, way, way down until I got to Hell where I would burn for eternity for telling a lie. I ran to my mom, crying, and told her what he said. My mom was unable to explain why somebody would say that and tried to reassure me, but it set the stage for my rebellious anti-religious ideas and path.
I opted out of church, and my parent's didn't force it on me. I later got curious and started reading about different religions and maybe started to appreciate it more but I saw how it was twisted and abused throughout history. I had no use for dogma, strict control and power games that they used. My religious friends would try to convince me of the merits but every time failed, and could not give me any tangible evidence or arguments. It was "faith", they had it but I didn't.
Many years later I started to see miraculous examples of a divine plan, in evolution, in nature, in physics, light, and the mind boggling complexity of the web of life. I finally had to admit that not everything can be quantified and there had to something more.
Now every day I think about life, the creator, God if you will, and I feel blessed and in awe sometimes, always open to discovering a higher truth.