Q: You’ve long been prolific and influential online, but how did that begin for you?
A: It started in a small way, with Loyola Press asking me to start a public Facebook page after they published my book My Life with the Saints. I thought: “Why would I want to do that? I’ve already got a personal page and I’m pretty busy already!” But it proved to be a great way of connecting with people and that led to Twitter, Instagram, and all the rest. And I think about that as a ministry of the Word (and image) and continuing what Jesus did, which was to meet people where they were, and once there, speak to them in their own language.
Q: You’ve described Jesus as engaged in the “ministry of communications” and you were appointed to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. How can and should the Church go about using contemporary media tools to spread the Gospel?
A: Honestly, I think the Catholic Church is doing a great job. I might not have said that 25 years ago (then again, there was hardly any social media then) but it seems that, for example, both the Vatican and Pope Leo XIV (and before him Pope Francis) are using every conceivable type of platform to proclaim the Gospel and share news about the Church. As for Pope Francis, even though he was quite elderly when he was elected, he seemed to embrace new technologies—you remember how big a deal it was for people to start taking selfies with him? So even if he wasn’t personally familiar with all those platforms, he was not averse to using them. Pope Leo, I think, while a more reserved man, is, on the other hand, younger and more familiar with social media. So we’ll see what the combination holds in store. But so far, he’s been on almost every social media platform, and of course speaks regularly to the mainstream media.
Q: Needless to say, the online world is not always—or even mostly—habituated to Jesuit ideals like attentiveness and reflectiveness. What practices and orientations can help us rise above the superficiality of discourse that often circulates there?
A: The most important one would be what we Jesuits call the “Presupposition,” which leads off St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. In short, he says that we should always be more ready to put a positive interpretation on what someone says than a negative one. Basically, as one elderly Jesuit used to say, always give people the “plus sign.” That’s essential for simple dialogue. And then, perhaps more broadly, remember to adopt a contemplative attitude toward the world so you’re not simply “reacting,” but, more importantly, “reflecting” on what is going on.
Q: Along similar lines, platforms tend to incentivize fragmentation, polarization, and anger. How can people maintain Jesuit ideals when engaging with each other on social media?
A: As I said above, by trying to put a positive spin on what someone is saying, which also means understanding them, as far as you can, as a beloved child of God. I think this is essential. You may not agree with what a person believes or says, but you can always treat them with dignity. When I was a delegate at the Synod of Bishops, during the two sessions in 2023 and 2024, I met many delegates with whom I disagreed on a number of topics. With the encouragement of a cardinal friend, I made an effort to seek these people out and try to understand them. And of course it helps to establish a friendship first. Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP, who led the retreats for the Synod delegates, quoted St. John Paul II: “Affective collegiality precedes effective collegiality.” In other words, before you have the tough conversations, it helps to be friends.
Q: On the positive side, the internet is also a space where marginalized populations can find spaces of care and inclusivity that aren’t afforded to them offline. Where do you see hope and find God like that online?
A: Well, the ministry for LGBTQ Catholics that I work with, Outreach, for example, has a wonderful website (Outreach.faith) where we try to “celebrate and elevate” LGBTQ Catholics around the world. We’ve had cardinals, archbishops, bishops, Catholic lay leaders, and many others write for us (and once interviewed Pope Francis). And I always imagine young LGBTQ Catholics who wonder if there is a place in the Church for them stumbling across our website and finding hope.
Q: We all spend too much time on our screens, but young people are especially prone to those habits. What advice would you offer them as they search for more authentic meaning, purpose, and community—both on and off those screens?
A: Take a break from your screens and you’ll feel better. It’s hard to do (even for me at times) but you have to remind yourself that you’ll feel better if you take a break and focus on friends and family right in front of you. But the deeper question is, as you say, one of meaning, purpose, and community. For that (whether or not you’re an inveterate phone user) it’s about looking for signs of God’s presence all around you and seeing moments of consolation and connection as ways that God has of communicating with you.
Q: Your latest book is about your journey through all sorts of jobs and experiences before finding your calling and the lessons learned along the way. As you reflect on a few decades of ministering in and through new technologies and platforms, what lessons do you feel like you’ve learned?
A: Work in Progress is a memoir of how some crazy summer jobs (busboy, dishwasher, caddy, movie theater usher, and many more) helped to shape me as a young man, teach me some important life lessons, and even prepare me for my eventual life as a Jesuit priest. The lessons I learned from those jobs, as I detail in the book, were simple but important ones: work hard, be on time, ask if you don’t know how to do something, apologize when you need to, treat people who don’t have as much power as you do with gentleness, listen, and, above all, be kind. Those are important whether you’re a busboy, a caddy, a dishwasher, a mother, an attorney, a teacher, or even a Jesuit priest. I hope that book gives people a smile but also reminds them of these small but important avenues to living a life of compassion.
James Martin, S.J., is the editor at large of America Magazine, host of The Spiritual Life Podcast at America Media, founder of Outreach, consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, and a best-selling author. His most recent book, Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest, published in February 2026.
Fr. Martin, known for his writing on spirituality, Catholic life, and LGBTQ outreach in the Church, has become one of the most influential Catholic voices on social media, engaging millions with reflections on faith, culture, and current events through his widely followed presence on platforms such as X, Facebook, and Instagram.
