Mediatization of Religion: Toward Understanding Pilgrimage in the Digital Environment
Mediatization of Religion: Toward Understanding Pilgrimage in the Digital Environment

Summary/Abstract: The mediatization of pilgrimage in the context of its formation as a socio-communicative institution is examined as a process of transforming traditional sacred experience under the influence of digital technologies and media. The purpose of this article is to analyze pilgrimage as a media phenomenon through the use of interpretive tools such as storytelling, digital diaries, interactive maps, and QR codes (Beebe, 2008; Kanaan-Amat, Crous-Costa, & Aulet, 2019; Lundby, 2014). The author explores how digitalization enables new forms of participation in pilgrimage practices, including inclusive online formats for people with disabilities, youth, and users of social networks and virtual media platforms (Collins-Kreiner, 2010). The analysis focuses on the formation of virtual communities of pilgrims on media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Viber Web, and WhatsApp Web, which facilitate not only communication but also spiritual involvement in liturgies, sermons, and journeys. Virtual catalogs, presentations, lectures, and other digital tools are becoming powerful instruments for positioning pilgrimage routes in the digital media space (Barbato, 2022; Dimodugno, 2023). As a conclusion, the article offers a scholarly rationale for the institutionalization of pilgrimage as a socio-communicative institution, a process that emerges through its mediatization (Panchenko & Rizun, 2024; Couldry, 2007). In this context, the use of artificial intelligence tools − particularly ChatGPT − is gaining relevance, opening new opportunities for personalized engagement within digital pilgrimage practices (Zhou et al., 2023; OpenAI, 2023).

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