Divine messengers: Italian nuns’ social media posts go viral

Original article by Angela Giuffrida in Raiano

For years, the mostly closed-off lives of the nuns living in a retirement home in Raiano, a mountain village in Italy’s Abruzzo region, followed much the same daily rhythm.

They woke early, prayed, went to the chapel, had lunch, and perhaps whiled away the afternoon reading.

But their routine switched pace when, under pressure from the eldest of the 22 women – Sister Maria Chiara, 98 – to liven things up, they broke out into social media.

“Sister Maria Chiara was starting to feel very low – she would say: ‘We don’t do anything here, and my life feels pointless,’” said Sister Nayiby Jimenez, who works in the home managed by the Ravasco congregation of Catholic nuns. “I felt sorry for them too. These are women who worked hard all their lives and have all this goodness and light in their hearts – we couldn’t just keep them closed off.”

Being the youngest of the nuns, the onus fell on Sister Nayiby, 45, to shine their light beyond the confines of the home.

So with the blessing of their mother superior, the women began experimenting with producing videos that recounted their daily lives while offering spiritual guidance.

They started simply: the first video, posted on Sister Nayiby’s Facebook account in July, featured Sister Maria Grazia, 97, imparting a pearl of wisdom about obedience and trust. The clip was an instant hit, generating thousands of views and attracting 7,000 followers to the account – more than double the population of Raiano.

On a roll, the nuns branched out into Instagram, injecting their scripts with humour and music in their savvy quest to target a young audience. Views climbed to the millions and followers now number about 145,000 across their Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts.

“All of this has been totally unexpected,” said Nayiby, who was born in Colombia.

In one of the most popular videos, the nuns take it in turns to throw a cardboard box out of the window. Each box is labelled with a negative emotion or trait, for example “stress”, “anxiety”, “selfishness” or “indifference”. The clip ends with Sister Maria Chiara saying: “We need to throw out everything that makes us sad, because the Lord wants us to be happy.”

In another, some of the nuns reluctantly take part in a morning exercise routine, before giving up, saying “we’re off to pray”. The overriding message is that care needs to be taken of the body and soul in order for us to “fully bloom”.

The clips have generated thousands of messages, and the nuns each have a book listing the names of those who have asked for their prayers. “There are over 200 names in each book, and they respond personally to all,” said Sister Nayiby.

Needless to say, the main star of the show is Sister Maria Chiara, hence she is tasked with opening and closing the reels. “I’ve always been a chatterbox,” she said. “But I’m spontaneous, I can never plan anything beforehand.”

Sister Anna Lilia, 95, is another spirited participant, although they have not yet risked putting her on a live video: “She has no filter, she just says what she thinks,” said Sister Nayiby.

The nuns come together to script each clip, with each production posted at 5am because “the first thing people do when they wake up in the morning is check their phones”, said Sister Nayiby. However, she confessed to occasionally asking ChatGPT for help with developing ideas.

The care home was opened by Sister Maria Grazia Mancini, who was there from Rome during the Guardian’s recent visit. “These women gave so much during their apostolic life and then they reach a point where they feel a little discarded,” she said. “But this initiative has given them the chance to express something beautiful, to have fun and to spread positive messages so that we can resist the evil that sometimes surrounds us.”