Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1534769
5 ANALYSIS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 APRIL 2025 After Francis: A church for a messy world James Debono catches up with a mosaic of informed voices from within the Maltese Church to explore where the church is heading after Francis. He finds little appetite for a return to past certainties and a growing recognition that the world is, after all, beautifully messy, though in desperate need of discernment. Evangelising the digital world – Fr Joe Borg When I call Fr Joe Borg and pose the question on what is the greatest challenge facing the church after Francis' departure, I am surprised by his point-blank reply. But the more he talks the more convincing his an- swer became. One of the key realisations the church must come to is that virtual and digital spaces are real spaces, Borg says. He is, after all the arch- bishop's delegate for social com- munication, who was recently ap- pointed by the Vatican to study the church's mission in digital environ- ments. These digital spaces have their own languages, codes, and power dynam- ics, which pose significant challeng- es for an institution historically root- ed in the physical world, he explains. "You cannot simply reproduce the pulpit on TikTok without under- standing that TikTok has a different language than Instagram," Borg says. "One cannot just adopt the same methods used in physical spaces." According to Borg, the challenge of evangelising the vast and ever-ex- panding digital realm may well be the greatest challenge facing the Catholic Church since the 'voyag- es of discovery' of the 16th century, when navigators crossed the Atlan- tic and circumnavigated the globe to reach India, China, and the Far East, opening the way for colonial domi- nation and atrocities. Fr Borg argues that a similar colo- nisation is now occurring in virtual spaces, which are far from neutral communication platforms but oper- ate within a capitalist political econ- omy dominated by oligarchic tech companies. Therefore, the church's role is not only to communicate its message using new media but also to use its "prophetic voice" to challenge this dominance and help humanise these digital environments. "To do so, the church must collab- orate with non-Catholics and ag- nostics who are equally concerned about the monopolisation of the dig- ital sphere," he says. Borg warns of the "dictatorship of the algorithm." Algorithms, he says, are designed to maximise profits by feeding users content that reinforces their existing beliefs and prejudices, pushing them into isolated silos. "If you are racist, you end up re- ceiving only racist material," he says. "The algorithm doesn't encourage communication; it promotes divi- sion." Still, Borg is not against technol- ogy. Rather, he believes the church should be at the forefront of a move- ment to regulate the sector, wresting