For four days, from September 10 to 13, more than a hundred Catholic digital communicators from across Asia gathered for the first-ever Asian Catholic Digital Missionary Assembly (ACDMA) 2026 at Radio Veritas Asia in Quezon City. Participants came from different countries, cultures, communities, and digital platforms, but instead found themselves gathered around one mission: to bring Christ into the digital world.
Gathered under the theme, “Influencers to Witnesses: Synodal Way for Digital Mission in Asia,” the four-day assembly brought together communicators, content creators, and digital missionaries to share experiences, learn from one another, and reflect on the mission of bringing Christ into the digital world.
Organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences – Office of Social Communications (FABC-OSC) and Radio Veritas Asia, in partnership with the Vatican Dicastery for Communication through the Fully Present Network, ACDMA was more than a gathering of people working in digital media. It became an opportunity to discover that digital mission is not a journey we make alone. We are called to walk together, learn from one another, and become witnesses of Christ together.
DIGITAL MISSION
Indeed, the digital mission is about a person: CHRIST. And the bonus? We do not need to do it alone. We have companions on the journey.
During the Mass at the Chapel of Three Saints, Fr. Felmar Fiel of Radio Veritas Asia reminded us that our digital presence should ultimately point people to Christ. In a video message, our beloved Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle challenged us to let Jesus be our greatest influencer. His message echoed Fr. Fiel’s reminder that at the heart of everything we do in the digital space is the mission to make Christ known.
While Bp. Maralit and Bp. Garcera both pointed out the importance of others in the mission, they expressed it in different ways. Bishop Junie Maralit, Bishop of San Pablo and Chairman of the FABC Office of Social Communication, reminded us of the importance of building a community of digital missionaries who work together and share in the mission. Meanwhile, our CBCP President, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera, spoke in his homily of “whispering Jesus” through our digital presence, by listening, building bridges, and bringing truth and hope.
The reminders to the digital communicators continued through the significant insights shared by other speakers. Fr. Columba Jordan, an Irish Franciscan friar known for his *Little by Little* video podcast, reminded us that authentic witness begins by allowing the Word to transform us and by letting God work through our gifts and experiences. Dr. Nataša Govekar, Director of the Theological-Pastoral Department of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, challenged us to approach digital mission synodally, journeying together and looking beyond numbers, likes, and followers. Meanwhile, South Korean journalist Dr. Anna Jihyun You, in “Understanding Asian Realities,” highlighted the need to balance our digital activities with authentic human connection, reminding us that even in a world shaped by screens, our mission remains deeply human.
SYNODAL WAY
The mission can be challenging, especially in a time when so many distractions can take our eyes away from Christ. But perhaps this is precisely why we need one another to remind, support, and accompany each other along the way.
This spirit of accompaniment was also seen in the assembly’s vision for World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul. Fr. John Mi Shen, Program Director of Radio Veritas Asia and Executive Secretary of the FABC Office of Social Communication, presented the vision of bringing forty digital missionaries to Seoul as the Church’s “40 pairs of eyes” and “40 pairs of windows.” They would not simply cover the major WYD events, but encounter and share the stories of young people and communities that might otherwise remain unseen. Through their stories, they would become “windows” through which the Church in Asia can see and encounter one another.
But Fr. Mi Shen reminded us that this mission does not begin in Seoul. It begins here and now. We are already called to be digital missionaries: to listen, accompany, and share the Gospel through our lives and our presence in the digital world.
The ACDMA concluded with the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David. His words captured this call to move beyond being merely influencers and to become witnesses of Christ:
“The digital world is not merely a collection of tools that we use. It has become a culture, a place where people meet, suffer, hope, and search for God. Do not go into that world merely as content creators, but go there as missionaries who listen before reacting, judging, or waiting for their turn to speak.”
ACDMA may have brought us together for four days, but the journey does not end in Quezon City. We return to our own countries, dioceses, communities, and digital spaces but we do not return alone.
We return as companions on the journey.
We are not competitors. We are companions on the journey. And together, we are witnesses of Christ.
Because in the end, it is not about us.
It is the Lord! Dominus Est!
Photos by John Noel Guarte | Photogallery
