With a view to connecting with Gen Z, the Vatican has invited over 1,000 priests, with a large social media following, to Rome. Notable among the invitees is Father Giuseppe Fusari, a bodybuilding priest from Italy, who has over 60,000 Instagram followers. The 58-year-old priest often shares images showing off his tattooed biceps, alongside with his spiritual reflections. Another priest, Father Cosimo Schena, has doubled the size of his congregation. The 46-year-old priest has over 454,000 followers on Instagram. His popularity stems from a combination of pet adoption requests and gospel teaching. Fr Ambrogio Mazza, is another digital evangelist known for his guitar-playing and bike-riding lifestyle. He has more than 460,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Fr Mazza shares selfies juxtaposing his faith and fun loving sides. I believe, our seminaries must pay more attention to making seminarians computer savvy with exposure to social media. I also think that during their regency period, deacons must be encouraged to connect via social media, with Gen Z in the parishes. So far as the older clergy are concerned, my humble request is that they should make services more appealing to the youth with short, interesting and topical homilies.
