‘God’s Influencer’ Carlo Acutis will be the first millennial saint. Here’s why sharing the gospel on social media is worth it

Carlo Acutis, the teenage web developer who created a database of Eucharistic miracles, died in 2006 aged just 15. Now he is set to become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint. Rev Chris Lee reflects on visiting his shrine, and why sharing the gospel online is worth navigating the pitfalls

One summer’s day in 2019 I was walking in my parish thinking: How do I use Instagram to communicate the gospel to an online audience? I had been sharing some thoughts on the internet for a while, but I wanted to be more intentional about it.

Back then, Instagram videos were limited to 60 seconds. I’m not a vicar who gives especially long sermons, but 60 seconds? How do I squeeze a sermon into that? But that was the time limit, so that’s what I did. Sometimes I would do it before or after writing my Sunday sermon, trying to crystallise my main point into a minute. Other times, they were off-the-cuff reflections, filmed as I walked along.