‘Send a message to the Holy Father’ initiative elicits supportive video messages for new pope
Those who want to participate can visit the eCatholic website to “take a moment to offer a message of prayer, encouragement, or support” and submit a video. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"/Screenshot Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 22, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Tech company eCatholic is collecting video messages of prayer, encouragement, and support from Catholics across the globe this month to create a montage of “blessings” for Pope Leo XIV.
Jason Jaynes, CEO of eCatholic, said the initiative was born during a meeting earlier this month when a team member asked: “Wouldn’t it be a really great and cool initiative [if] we could let Catholics all over the world share their blessings with the new pope?”
The effort, launched shortly after Pope Leo XIV’s election, has already received submissions from “every continent across the globe,” Jaynes told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Catherine Hadro.
Planning for the initiative started during the first day of the conclave, when eCatholic employees “had no idea that just 24 hours later, there’d be white smoke and we’d already have a new pope,” Jaynes said.
“We wanted to do something meaningful — and a little creative — to mark the moment and celebrate with the universal Church,” eCatholic marketing director Michael Josephs told EWTN’s ChurchPop.
Some of the submissions eCatholic has received so far feature children singing in Latin, people offering prayers to the first U.S.-born pope, and group messages from parishes congratulating Pope Leo XIV on his election.
The videos have come from people around the world speaking multiple languages, which Jaynes said “reinforces the universal nature of our Church.”
Those who want to participate can visit the eCatholic website to “take a moment to offer a message of prayer, encouragement, or support” and submit a video.
“We’re going to keep the submissions open through the end of this month,” Jaynes said. “Then we’ll be reaching out with the montage, probably first over social media since Pope Leo has a presence there, and also trying to reach out to work with the Vatican media and others to get these messages in front of him.”
