From the “interior cell” to social networks: keys for ethical persuasion among digital missionaries
1. Introduction: a crisis more anthropological than technological
Contemporary communication is undergoing a profound transformation marked by the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI). Yet the central problem is not technical, but anthropological. The growing reduction of the human person to data, metrics and patterns of behavior reveals a progressive dehumanization of the communicative act. The person risks being dissolved into the flow of information, losing his or her uniqueness, voice and capacity for authentic relationship.
In this context, digital evangelization faces a decisive challenge: it is not enough to master technological tools or to amplify religious content. The fundamental question is who forms evangelizers and from what anthropology they communicate. If the communicator is not rooted in an integral understanding of the person, the message risks becoming just another product within the digital ecosystem.
In response to this situation, a clear proposal emerges: not to reject technology, but to integrate it critically as a missionary tool. Artificial intelligence can be placed at the service of the proclamation of the Gospel if it is subordinated to a humanistic and theological vision of communication. In this regard, the writings of Catherine of Siena offer a particularly fruitful source for rethinking communication in terms of truth, relationship and transformation.
2. Ethical persuasion: passion for the first and sweet Truth
Ethical persuasion integrates reason, emotion and credibility. Following the Aristotelian tradition, discourse is articulated around logos — the truth of the content —, pathos — emotional openness — and ethos — the coherence of the communicator. In the digital environment, these dimensions are often fragmented: impact is privileged over truth, and visibility over credibility.
For this reason, evangelizing communication requires an ethical reintegration of these dimensions, in which influencing does not mean manipulating, but orienting toward the good. In this horizon, Catherine’s experience shows a particularly successful synthesis: her word persuades not because of an isolated rhetorical strategy, but because it is rooted in lived truth. As she herself expresses, with Thomistic passion, her desire is to “be a lover and proclaimer of the truth,” thus placing credibility at the heart of all communication.
3. Artificial intelligence: risk and opportunity
The development of artificial intelligence has intensified the tensions between communicative efficiency and human authenticity. On the one hand, it makes it possible to amplify the message; on the other, it can empty it of relationship. The principal risk is depersonalization: communicating without encounter, influencing without connection.
The answer is not to reject technology, but to subordinate it to the person. A pastoral ministry that communicates cannot be measured only by the optimization of content: it requires presence, listening and responsibility. In this sense, Catherine’s warning about “self-love” is illuminating: the human being, blinded by the self, can turn even means into instruments of self-assertion. This risk is amplified in digital culture, where visibility can replace truth.
4. Interior life as the source of communication
One of Catherine’s most important contributions is her understanding of interiority as the origin of authentic speech. She recommends “making a cell in the mind, from which one can never leave,” not as an escape, but as an anthropological and communicative center. There, identity is formed and intention is ordered; free will and love give dynamism to communication.
In The Dialogue, this anthropology is expressed clearly: the human being was created by love and for love. “By love I created you and gave you being,” it says, directly linking human dignity with relational capacity. God has fallen in love with his creature, yet the creature remains free, even free to deny him a response, and has sunk into self-love, the very thing that is the enemy of charity and of one’s neighbor. From this perspective, communication is not merely the transmission of information, but the expression of an identity in relationship. Moreover, knowledge of God and knowledge of oneself are intrinsically united. “If you know who you are and who God is, you will be blessed,” she affirms, indicating that authentic communication also involves a process of self-knowledge.
In the digital environment, where constant exteriority can empty the interior life, this proposal takes on particular relevance. Without interiority, communication becomes repetitive, reactive and superficial.
5. Revaluing one’s neighbor: from audience to person
Digital logic tends to transform the other into an audience. We speak of metrics, reach and interaction. Yet this reduction impoverishes relationship. Catherine proposes a radical revaluing of one’s neighbor: each person is worthy, irreducible and not to be instrumentalized. The anthropology — or rhetoric — of intimacy moves Catherine to learn about her interlocutors so that she can write to them with closeness: “Dearest daughter, … I weep and grieve that you… do not take account of your dignity…”
This vision redefines communication: the point is not to capture attention, but to generate encounter. The message ceases to be a product and becomes a mediation of relationship. Christian communication, in this sense, is always interpersonal, even when it uses mass media. Digital missionaries need to be valued in their own communities and families, from which they arise and evangelize.
6. Desire as the driving force of communication
In Catherine’s spirituality, “holy desire” orients life toward God. This interior dynamism has direct implications for communication. The content that is transmitted is conditioned by what moves the communicator. The digital missionary maintains hope in people because he or she is moved by the holy desire to communicate good news.
When desire is centered on recognition, communication becomes self-referential. When it is oriented toward God, it becomes service. Catherine describes this dynamism with a powerful image: the more one seeks God, the more the desire to seek him grows. This movement avoids superficiality and sustains the depth of the message. “As the servant desires the fountain of living water, so the soul desires to leave this dark body and to see you in truth, as you are. How long will your face still remain hidden from my eyes!”
7. Catherine of Siena: authority, truth and public speech
Catherine is a genuine communicator. She writes from the chair of the Cross of Jesus Christ, as a servant who desires the salvation of souls, peace and unity. Her authority did not come from an institutional position, but from her interior coherence. From that foundation, she addresses popes, cardinals and rulers with an uncommon and uncomfortable clarity.
Her communication is characterized by parrhesia: a frankness that does not break communion. In her letters, truth is not negotiable, but neither does it become aggression. This synthesis allows her to exercise real influence in contexts of crisis. Her insistence is clear: silence before the truth is not neutral. “Do not be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues,” she writes, emphasizing that omission is also a form of responsibility. The point is not to avoid conflict, but to avoid rupture.
For Catherine, as for St. Paul, St. Thomas and other saints, truth is identified with Christ Crucified, whose contemplation exceeds the language of all her writings. Catherine falls in love with the Prima dolce verità, the “first sweet Truth,” which becomes her solid doctrinal foundation and the object of her lifelong love. Before it, she felt that her language could not encompass its beauty and goodness.
In the digital environment, where polarization is frequent, this attitude is especially necessary. Catherine does not seek to provoke, but to transform. Her word challenges because it is sustained by the conviction that truth is the condition of communion.
8. Context and mission: historical continuity
Catherine’s context, marked by ecclesial and political crisis, is not foreign to our own. The tensions between power, truth and communication remain present, though now mediated by new technologies. Avignon, for example, evokes controversies in which communicators must take care that interpretive frameworks are correct.
The lesson is clear: the mission does not change, even when contexts do. Catherine did not withdraw from the world, but inhabited it responsibly because “lukewarmness proceeds from ingratitude and has its origin in little light… If you are what you should be, you will set fire to all Italy, and not only there.”
Her example invites digital missionaries to assume the digital environment as a space of mission, not merely as a channel. Her prophetic temperament speaks in the name of God and for God.
9. Conclusion: from influence to witness
The figure of Catherine allows us to outline the mission of communication in the digital age. In the face of the logic of impact, she proposes the logic of witness. The difference is substantial: impact seeks visibility; witness is nourished by fidelity.
In an environment saturated with messages, the word that is born of truth and love has a singular force. Catherine expresses this radically when she affirms her willingness to “die for the truth,” emphasizing that authentic communication involves personal commitment. In her, the word is action and does not exempt one from action: it is living and effective information, as in the account of the execution of Niccolò di Toldo.
Humanizing communication is not a secondary option, but a condition for the Gospel to be credible. On this path, Catherine’s voice continues to offer a clear orientation: speak from interiority, communicate the truth and build communion.
To write and to speak is to participate in the Incarnation of the divine Word: it is sacrifice and offering, the proper task of a missionary at the service of the Church’s mission and of a message of liberation.
Drawing inspiration from the example and writings of Catherine of Siena helps us better understand the social responsibility of journalism as a “service based on love.”
— fr. Javier Abanto Silva, OP
Bibliographical references
Cavallini, Giuliana. Caterina da Siena: la vita, gli scritti, la spiritualità. Città Nuova, 2008.
Da Capua, Blessed Raymond. Santa Caterina da Siena – Legenda Maior. 5th revised edition. Translated by Giuseppe Tinagli O.P. Cantagalli, 1994.
Giunta, Diega, ed. Il servizio dottrinale di Caterina da Siena. Quaderni del Centro Internazionale di Studi Cateriniani 4. Nerbini, 2012.
Harvey Sanders, Matthew. “AI as Mentor: How Intelligent Tools Are Accelerating Technological Talent Development for Evangelization.” Magisterium AI, n.d. https://www.magisterium.com/es/blog/ai-as-mentor-how-intelligent-tools-are-accelerating-tech-talent-development-evangelization.
Imeneo, Davide. “Chi forma gli influencer? Quattro atenei pontifici riflettono sui missionari digitali.” Avvenire (Rome), March 18, 2026. https://www.avvenire.it/rubriche/artifici/chi-forma-gli-influencer-quattro-atenei-pontifici-riflettono-sui-missionari-digitali_105998.
Pope Leo XIV. “Message of the Holy Father Leo XIV to the Participants in the Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Corporate Governance.” Holy See, June 17, 2025. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/es/messages/pont-messages/2025/documents/20250617-messaggio-ia.html.
St. Catherine of Siena. Epistolario de Santa Catalina de Siena: espíritu y doctrina. José Salvador y Conde. 2 vols. Biblioteca Dominicana 1. Editorial San Esteban, 1982.
St. Catherine of Siena. Obras De Santa Catalina De Siena: Diálogo. Oraciones Y Soliloquios, edited by José Salvador y Conde. BAC. Madrid, 1996. https://archive.org/details/obras-de-santa-catalina-de-siena-dialogo-oraciones-y-soliloquios.
Vauchez, André. Caterina da Siena: una mistica trasgressiva. First edition. Translated by Luca Falaschi. I Robinson. Letture. GLF editori Laterza, 2016.
