In the Age of Rad Trads and Groypers, Pope Leo Warns Faith Can’t Be Lived Alone

The first American pope is telling Gen Z exactly what they needed to hear: don’t let your faith languish as a solo online project languishing in extremism.

In the midst of a Vatican gathering of young people this week, Pope Leo XIV shared a simple admonition — and within hours it was reverberating across social media.

He urged them not to live their faith “in isolation” but to root it in real community — a message that soon went viral on social media.

The Pope had a prepared speech for these young advisors, but like Francis often did, he chose not to read it aloud, handing out copies instead.

Later, he distilled its core message into a single post on X (formerly Twitter): “Faith thrives in community, not isolation.”

That line struck a chord far beyond the Vatican. Leo’s concern was clear: too many young believers are finding religion only through their screens.

“In recent years many young people have approached the faith through social media,” he noted in his address, but the danger is that a faith discovered online remains “limited to individual experiences” and is never fully embodied.

In other words, a Christianity confined to YouTube and Instagram can turn into a hollow, disembodied spirituality detached from the living Church.

The pope warned that social media algorithms often trap people in a feedback loop of their own preferences, creating a digital echo chamber.

All too often, “social media algorithms merely create a sounding board … sending [personal preferences] back magnified” – until “everyone remains alone with themselves, prisoners of their own inclinations and projections.”

To break out of that isolation, Leo urged his young flock to reclaim their story from Big Tech.

“Do not let the algorithm write your story! Be the authors yourselves; use technology wisely, but do not let technology use you,” he told thousands of students at the Jubilee of Education.

Instead of getting lost as mere “tourists on the web,” the pope said, young people should aim to be “prophets in the digital world! — using online tools creatively for good, but always anchoring their faith in offline love and friendship.

He pointed to the example of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a tech-savvy teen saint who “did not become a slave to the internet, but rather used it skillfully for good” as an evangelization tool.

Ultimately, Leo invited every young Catholic to plug back into real community. He encouraged them to invite their peers to be active in parish life rather than trying to go it alone.

Faith flourishes face-to-face: “The Church offers many different possibilities for living our faith in community, for everything is easier when we do it together.”

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A Timely Warning Amid Rising Extremism

Pope Leo’s exhortation could not be more providential. In recent years a troubling subculture of right-wing Catholic extremism has been growing online — especially among some Gen Z Catholics drawn to what they call “rad trad” spirituality.

These are young people who often shun their local parishes (sometimes due to generational rifts or liturgy wars over the Latin Mass) and instead practice an isolated, internet-driven faith. In these online echo chambers, they binge on polemical YouTube channels, self-appointed prophets on Twitter, and conspiratorial chat groups.

The results can be alarming. Take the recent case of a 22-year-old who proudly identified himself as a “Catholic fascist.”

This young man, known by the alias “Pinesap,” appeared on a viral Jubilee YouTube debate alongside other self-described “far-right conservatives.”

He told the shocked audience that he would prefer an autocratic state aligned with Catholic teaching over democracy, even citing a Nazi-linked philosopher to justify it.

When pressed by the moderator, he did not hesitate to confirm his ideology — “Yeah, I am [a fascist],” he said to scattered applause.

It sounds like a bad parody, but it’s real. And it underlines exactly what Pope Leo is warning against. That young man lost his job after his extremist rant went public, but he instantly became a minor hero in certain online circles.

Within days he had set up a crowdfunding page painting himself as a martyr for “traditional values” — and donations poured in.

His fundraiser blew past $20,000, with some supporters cheering him on with comments like “Don’t forget who you are. The blood that built all of Western civilization runs through your veins,” and even “I love mass deportations.”

On his social media accounts, this individual mixes Catholic imagery and devotions with racist memes and misogynistic incel rhetoric.

He exemplifies a wider Groyper movement of ultra-right Catholic youth who live in an echo chamber detached from the broader Church. It’s a “faith” twisted into a nationalist, isolationist ideology — the very antithesis of the Gospel’s love and universality.

Pope Leo sees the danger.

He knows a young Catholic alone online is easy prey for radicalization.

If you never rub shoulders with real fellow believers, never serve the poor alongside others, never experience the give-and-take of church community, you can start mistaking internet tribalism for authentic Catholicism.

Leo’s message is essentially a rescue mission for those souls.

Experiences of lived faith together “overcome the barriers of the self and encourage young people to become effective members of the family of Jesus Christ,” he explained, quoting his predecessor Pope Francis’s reminder that “everything is easier when we do it together.”

The Church is meant to be exactly that: together. It’s a living, breathing “ecclesial body” — not a message board subculture.

In calling Gen Z back to community, Pope Leo XIV is also calling them to heroism of a sort. He believes this generation can shake off the cynicism and extremism that fester in online silos.

In fact, he challenged young people to be remembered as “Generation Plus” – the generation that added something positive to the world, rather than just subtracting or dividing.

The Pope’s vision is of young Catholics who bring extra drive, creativity, and compassion to both Church and society.

That won’t happen in isolation behind a keyboard. It will happen when they stand side by side with others, in parish halls and service projects, in prayer groups and yes, even on social media, but as prophets of communion, not trolls of division.

Through one viral tweet and a series of heartfelt comments, Leo XIV has delivered a much-needed examen for the digital age.

Faith Thrives in Community — Not Isolation

In an era when algorithms can atomize us and radical voices lure the disaffected, the Pope is urging young Catholics to reclaim their birthright: a faith lived together, in the flesh.

The antidote to the “prison” of online extremism is the open door of the church community.

Leo is inviting his young flock to step through that door – to discover that the real adventure of faith begins when we log off, look our brother or sister in the eye, and start building the civilization of love together.

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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.