“Okay Alberto, but if they call me Don Alberto I won’t be offended”. Alberto Ravagnani32 years old, only started speaking on social media and with journalists a few days ago. Time to settle the wave of comments born after his choice. On January 31 he left the priesthood. Over the years Alberto Ravagnani has built a community on social mediaeffectively creating the figure of those who were later renamed influencer priests. The date of the announcement is not coincidental: he is currently promoting his new book: The Choice.
Today Alberto seems calm. Although technically he is no longer a priestis keen to underline a couple of concepts: “A priest is a priest until the end of his life, because the sacrament imprints a character that does not go away. I suspend the exercise of the ministry, I decide to leave the role.” You are priests in eternity.
Now he talks about it to Fanpage.it: “I made this choice with confidence so much awareness after monthsif not years of discernment and comparisons. I received a lot of criticism, but certainly also a lot of love from people. I’m a little sorry for the criticism, but above all for the face of the Church which comes out of the great malice and violence that was unleashed against me.”
The influencer priest is no longer a priest, Don Alberto Ravagnani leaves the priesthood: confirmation
In this article you will find some passages from his interview. In the video above you can see the complete content. He collaborated on this interview Daniele Polidoro.
Why Don Alberto left the priesthood: “I want to be more loyal to who I am”
Alberto he doesn’t think he betrayed anyonedespite the attacks against him also coming from within the Church, as well as from social media: “Maybe someone felt betrayed, but my choice is in continuity with what I experienced before. Indeed, precisely because I started making videos and became a digital missionary, I am now making this choice.”
There motivation she is dry: “I believe that no longer being a priest can allow me to do good in a more authentic and more loyal way than I am”. Among the reasons for this step backwards is Ravagnani excludes the most talked about one. No relationship on the way: “Love certainly has something to do with it, but I haven’t fallen in love with someone. My choice is not a choice to follow the love of my life.”
Although he doesn’t rule that out something else could happen in the future: “I have interpreted my role as a priest in a very rigid way, that is, very faithful to celibacy and all my duties. I have always censored this part, I have always wanted to push it away. So clearly now, with this role no longer present, it will be about starting a new chapter in my life, which is also the one that involves love.”
The problem of marketing the Faith
And now? Now the followers remain. On Instagram he is still Don Alberto and has 300,000 users who follow him. From his words it seems that this is the new starting point. Content, events, perhaps some sponsorship as in the case of supplements. We have seen this in recent days also with the launch of the book which coincided with official statement on the end of the priesthood:
“I don’t think marketing is a bad thing because the Chiesa does marketing. Canonizing saints is also a form of spiritual marketing. Even holding the Jubilee is a form of marketing. I don’t demonize marketing, what matters are the intentions and the intentions with which I did all this are good.”
Now there is a life to be built around this choice: “I will have to do like all ordinary mortals, that is, I will have to earn money, I will have to pay rent. For the moment I will continue to live in the parish until I manage to find stability that allows me to have a home. I would like to stay in Milan, if possible. But because here there is the mission for me, there are young people I want to talk to”.
The Sister Cristina effect and Big Brother
In all of this a problem remains. Alberto has not become famous on social media only for his content but also because he was a priest. The white collar helped raise curiosity about him. Now that he is no longer a priest, there is a risk that something will change. A bit like Sister Cristina Scuccia. Very viral when she sang with the veil. Disappeared from the radar after returning to secular life.
“Now I am no longer formally a priest and therefore I believe that people’s prejudices compared to what I represent they fall. So whoever deals with me is no longer dealing with a representative of the institution. And now I would still like to find a way to talk about the Gospelof the message of Jesus, of the meaning of life, of the search for God in people. We live in a moment of crisis of Christianity. Maybe we can get over it.”
For the moment anyway no reality show. Even though they had been there in the past contacts with the authors of Big Brother: “No, I don’t want to go to an artificial context to entertain people. I have other plans.”
