Juan Dela Torre, founder and administrator of the La Machi Agency (the first communication company dedicated in religion), was pleased with the first interventions of Leo XIV XIV
Communication consultant Juan della Torre, who supported Pope Francis, praised this Saturday the pragmatism of Leo XIV, “typical of the Americans”, considering him a “man of bridges” among various sensitivities of the Universal Church.
On the eve of the Pontificate Mass, Juan Dela Torre, founder and administrator of La Machi agency (the first communication company dedicated in religion), was pleased with the first interventions of Leo XIV, elected on May 8, showing that “there is an obvious control of words.”
“I am very happy to the election of Cardinal Prevost, because it is a bridge between the American continent and the European continent, it is a bridge between the North and the Global South, it is a bridge between the most progressive wings and the most conservative wings and is a bridge between the missionary church and the church that prays in the churches,” the communication expert told Lusa.
“Your first word was peace” and “this is important,” said Juan Dela Torre, who advised Pope Francis in the relationship with new technologies.
The fact that Leo XIV, former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was born in the United States and having made much of his career in Peru allowed him to “join characteristics” that can “be important to the Church’s own communication management”, he considered.
“Sometimes it seems to me that the US Catholic Church is not welcomed in Europe, but it is a committed and committed Catholicism,” although not uniform, divided into very activist progressive and conservative movements, said Juan della Torre.
For the consultant, the American clergy has “work habits that are very necessary” to “be able to make the message” to society.
“I believe Pope Leo XIV will continue to promote church communication,” seeking to “use a clear speech”, although less improvised than his predecessor.
“As an American, he knows the weight of words” and “Americans look at communication as an instrument,” he said, stressing that the religious of the continent “are pragmatic, advance and are not afraid of failure or success,” unlike many Europeans.
“Americans have a very generous worldview,” he added.
After a successful advertising career, Argentine Juan della Torre founded Machi agency 13 years ago, “a communication consultant to help the Church communicate better, using digital marketing, advertising and strategic thinking.”
The leap was made with the creation to the Portuguese market, at the request of Father António Valério, of an application that encouraged prayer, Click to Pray.
The application was praised by Francisco, who asked the consultant to develop the product in several languages and later became the third social network of the Catholic Church leader, having even made a public appeal to Catholics to follow him on the platform in January 2019.
“After walking here and defending the professionalization of communication in the church, we got great support to universalize the strategy,” recalls Juan della Torre.
“The history of Machi is closely linked to Portugal and, in Fatima, we held the first congress on the church’s digital communication, along with the planter’s apostolate, the Pope’s worldwide prayer network, where we presented the click to Pray application,” he explained.
Francisco had “an important pontificate because he reorganized the Vatican’s communication at the formal level and gathered all the different organisms that had to do with communication in the same dicker.”
In addition, he recalled Della Torre, Francisco had “charisma and an empathic and close communication” that connected him to the faithful.
With Francisco, the figure of the Pope became everyday, “it was much of the world, but without being mundane,” summarized the consultant.
