Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle urged young people to be “influencers” of Jesus in the digital world, according to a report of Church-run Radyo Veritas reported over the weekend.

Tagle issued the call at a Mass celebrated by Daet Bishop Rex Andrew Alarcon, also the chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines – Episcopal Commission on Youth, for the Filipino delegation to the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday.

According to Tagle, the digital world is a vast and extraordinary world that is an opportunity for young people to spread God’s Word by influencing truth, justice and being a guardian of nature and fellow creatures.

“We are all inhabitants, residents of the digital world, that is a world that is heavily populated and all of us inhabit that world,” said Tagle, the Vatican’s Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization.

“Young people of the Philippines spread the influence of Jesus, the influence of truth, justice, caring for the earth, caring for fellow human beings, spread this influence in the world of social media,” he added.

Tagle noted that an individual will be a more effective influencer if the influence of Jesus and the Word of God is spread and shared through modern means of communication in the digital world.

“We hope as influencers inspired by the Gospel, we will allow Jesus to influence us,” he said.

“If you are an influencer, ask what is it that influences you, maybe you are only using it when influencing so you are just duplicating the influence of others, but if the one influencing you is Jesus and the Gospel, go right ahead influence other people through this social media which is a world in itself,” the former Manila archbishop added.

Over a thousand Filipino pilgrims are in the Portuguese capital for the weeklong youth gathering that opened on Aug. 1.

On Thursday, about half a million young people from all over the world filled the Eduardo VII Park to meet Pope Francis during the welcome ceremony. (PNA)