Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Monday, 28 July 2025
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by Pascale RizkDaejon (Agenzia Fides) – “Every Christian can be a missionary by virtue of baptism: even if they do not leave their country, they can proclaim the love of Jesus they have received, in the situation and condition in which they find themselves.” This is how Sister Ester Palma describes the heart of her experience. She recently arrived in Rome to witness this love during the Jubilee of “digital missionaries” on July 28 and 29.As a missionary, working with young Koreans, especially in the last ten years, Sister Ester has observed that boys and girls spend 90% of their time on their cell phones, connected to digital social networks. “I realized that for them, the world they access through their phones is not just virtual. Although it is digital, for them it is real. And I felt a new call to be a missionary precisely in that environment,” explains the Spanish nun from the Congregation of the Servants of the Gospel of God’s Mercy, who has been in Korea for 19 years.This is how her experience as a “digital missionary” began, opening a YouTube channel where she shares teachings, stories, and her own experiences. After a video is published, there is always spontaneous participation from followers: with comments, questions, and reactions posted on the message board. “It is not a physical place; it is like a wall of information, but it is also a place where relationships can be built,” Sister Ester continues. Shared content can be followed by a private message, a request for support, advice, or the proposal of an online course to delve deeper into topics that touch and challenge the very hearts of young men and women. “It is not just ‘the sixth continent, the new continent,’ as Pope Benedict XVI called it, but it is an extension of our lives,” adds the nun, convinced that digital mission offers real opportunities to reach many young people, accompany them, and be with them, starting from that “place” where the proclamation of the Gospel can unpredictably intersect with their paths.Among the traits that Sister Ester considers important for an authentic and fruitful digital mission, she highlights patience and humility. Two traits not always found in those who work in the digital world, dominated by speed, the need to stand out, and the constant struggle to capture the attention of followers and combat their poor concentration.Missionaries, Sister Ester emphasizes, is always called to be patient, to enter into the environment and situations in which they are called to work. Jesus, too, spent 30 years in hiding before beginning his public preaching.”The missionary’s humility, she adds, is born from the recognition that it is not the missionary who saves: they are not the “gates of salvation”: only Christ can touch hearts and make the seeds of beauty and truth that He has already sown germinate,” she affirms.Sister Ester has written several essays to tell young people about the history of Catholicism in Korea and the lives of some martyrs. She also recently released a song entitled “Your Life Is Precious,” which seeks to respond to the deep desire for happiness and greatness that many young people feel vibrating, sometimes in a confusing way, in their lives.Together with Father Peter Hong, of the Diocese of Daejeon and currently a missionary in Mongolia, Sister Ester sings of God’s love: who loves us not for what we “do,” but because we “exist.” Even if we feel inadequate and imperfect, he reminds us how precious we are just as we are, and each person’s life is a precious gift to this world.According to the Digital Missionaries Jubilee platform, around 1,000 participants, mostly lay people, from 56 countries gathered in Rome. During their Jubilee pilgrimage, they participated in rround tables, group work, moments of prayer, visits to the sites of apostolic memorials in Rome, and a closing festival.Many of the events in which “Catholic influencers” participate are concentrated around St. Peter’s Basilica: the Auditorium in Via della Conciliazione, the Vatican Gardens, and Piazza Risorgimento. (Agenzia Fides, 28/7/2025)Share: