Letter of the Superior General of the Camaldolese Monks about Netflix, Instagram and TikTok that Every Superior and Formator Should at Least Read.
The Prior General of the Camaldolese Congregation sent a letter addressing the challenges the digital world poses to religious life. The letter's release coincided with the high-profile departure from the priesthood of an Italian priest known for his significant online presence. The digital world, including smartphones and social media, presents a significant challenge to monastic life, especially for newer generations. The Prior General questioned whether the monastic cell can remain a place of prayer and wisdom if it becomes dominated by digital distractions and individualistic media consumption. There is concern that excessive use of digital media can lead to addiction, preventing self-reflection and the pursuit of God.
20 days ago
The Prior General of the Camaldolese Congregation, Dom Matteo, issued a letter on February 2, 2026, addressing digital media's impact on monastic life.1
It gained attention in Italy following the defection of priest Alberto Ravagnani, known for his online presence, though not directly responding to it.1
Internet, smartphones, social media, streaming like Netflix, and apps like Instagram and TikTok challenge monastic discipline.1
For younger generations, these define identity and relationships, risking the monastic cell—meant as a place of prayer per St. Romuald—becoming a site of distraction and addiction.1
Unregulated use fosters escapism, cinephile addictions over God-seeking, and individualism, undermining poverty, sobriety, and fraternity.1
The letter urges communal viewing with formative value instead of solitary streaming.1
Postulate Phase: Focus on critical thinking about media risks, fostering detachment under the Master's guidance.1
Novitiate Phase: Enforce full detachment—suspend social media, personal internet, Netflix, unregulated messaging; entrust smartphones to the Master.1
Simple Profession Phase: Promote responsible, limited use for work only; enforce silence after Compline, avoiding media as idleness.1
Guidelines apply to all monks, including solemnly professed, to avoid hypocrisy and formalism in cell life.1
Dom Matteo calls for community discussions with experts to regulate media positively, initiating shared reflection on this evolving challenge.1
Examine the Catholic Church’s guidance on digital media’s impact on monastic life
The Catholic Church acknowledges that digital media profoundly shapes modern society, including monastic and contemplative communities, which are not immune to its cultural impact. Guidance emphasizes prudent discernment to harness media's potential for formation and communication while guarding against risks like time-wasting, escapism, and vocational harm. This balanced approach draws from papal exhortations and instructions on consecrated life, prioritizing contemplation over digital immersion.
In contemporary society, digital culture decisively influences thoughts, relationships, and worldview, extending even to cloistered communities dedicated to prayer and silence. Pope Francis highlights that contemplative nuns are "not immune from this cultural climate," as media pervade daily existence. This influence can subtly erode the contemplative vocation by promoting a "mentality and model of life in constant contrast with the Gospel," as noted in reflections on consecrated communities' media use. For monastics, whose lives center on seeking God in solitude and fraternity, unchecked digital engagement risks fostering "obsessive interest in 'the form of this world which is passing away'" (1 Cor 7:31), diverting from eternal realities.
Church documents stress vigilance against media's "extraordinary power of persuasion" and "distorted use," which could introduce societal anxieties or superficial connections into monastic enclosure. Historical precedents, like Vatican II's Inter Mirifica and subsequent instructions, underscore bishops' and superiors' roles in supervising media to align with evangelization, implicitly extending to religious houses.
The core Church guidance for monastics mandates "prudent discernment" to ensure digital media serve contemplative formation without becoming detrimental. Media should aid "formation and communication" but never provide "occasions for wasting time or escaping from the demands of fraternal life in community." Pope Francis warns they must not "prove harmful for your vocation or become an obstacle to your life wholly dedicated to contemplation."
This discernment involves ethical assessment and conscience formation, training monastics as "discerning listeners" through media education. Consecrated persons, including contemplatives, bear a duty to "learn the language of the media" for Gospel witness while facing difficulties with "careful discernment." Religious superiors play a key role, granting permissions for publications or media use only after censor review to safeguard faith and morals. In monastic settings, this extends to communal rules limiting access, fostering "evangelical clarity and inner freedom."
Broader papal teachings reinforce this: digital spaces are "new 'agora'" for encounter, yet contemplatives must prioritize real fraternity over virtual ones. Fanaticism or verbal violence online, even among believers, contradicts monastic peace.
Despite risks, the Church views digital media optimistically as tools for evangelization, applicable even to monastics. Contemplatives can use them "truly at the service of formation to contemplative life and necessary communication," such as sharing spiritual insights or fostering ecclesial bonds. John Paul II urged consecrated persons to proclaim the Gospel via media, interpreting contemporaries' "joys and hopes," while promoting ethical programs rich in Christian values.
Pope Francis echoes this, calling media a "gift from God" for unity and solidarity if guiding toward "generous encounter" and truth. For monastics, limited, discerning use could extend their witness to "digital peripheries," making the internet a "network not of wires but of people." However, this remains secondary to enclosure, with superiors ensuring alignment with charism.
Monastic governance structures reinforce media oversight. Superiors general and provincials, elected by chapters, deliberate on matters affecting the community, potentially including digital policies. In contemplative orders, bishops delegate supervision, ensuring media fosters rather than disrupts vocation. Communities should pursue "media education" collectively, forming standards of judgment against commercial exploitation or passivity. Parents' duties analogize to superiors guiding professed members.
Recent reflections like Towards Full Presence invite creative engagement fostering "neighbourliness" online, though tailored cautiously for monastics. Protection from digital "intrusiveness" is vital, especially for vulnerable religious.
In summary, the Church's guidance on digital media's impact on monastic life centers on Vultum Dei Quaerere's call for discernment: embrace media's benefits sparingly while shielding contemplation from its shadows. This preserves the monastic charism amid digital ubiquity, urging communities to prioritize silence, prayer, and fraternity. Superiors and members must vigilantly ensure technology enhances, not supplants, the quest for God.