‘Gen Z are looking for miracles and angels’: How TikTok became the new church for budding Catholics

Three years ago, at the age of 20, Maria Stichini heard the voice of God at 3am.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and there was blood on the floor,” she says. “I heard a voice tell me to look to the ground, and on my carpet there was something dark, it was wet.”

Facetiming from the sunny climes of Portugal, Stichini looks like your average 23 year old. Just back from the gym, she wears a casual black running top, framed by long dusty blonde hair.

“I was really confused. I remember I got out of bed and I started touching the ground to see if it was wet, and it felt humid. Then the voice told me ‘that’s the blood of Jesus’.”

Having rejected her Catholic upbringing at the age of 16, Stichini rediscovered her faith in the wake of this incident, becoming part of a growing cultural phenomenon known as Gen Z trad (or traditional) Catholics. Stichini, from Albufeira, works as a receptionist in a hotel and is fluent in both English and Portuguese.

Now she wears a traditional lace veil, known as a mantilla, to Latin Mass – which she attends twice a month. She also prays “at least five times a day”, owns seven rosaries (one of which she keeps permanently under her pillow), and attends church once a week – a place where she says she meets “loads of young people”.

But there’s another type of church to which young Catholics are flocking at the moment – TikTok. The social media platform is fast becoming the community hub for young Catholics all over the world to come together and connect. Videos posted there have become part of a growing trend labelled “Catholic Tok” or “God Tok”. They show young people “veiling up”, the process of putting on a veil to go to church, praying with rosaries, lighting candles and using holy water.

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