# Mediatized Catholicism--Minority Voices and Religious Authority in the Digital Sphere
## 6 Mediatized Religion and Unheard Religious Voices--A Discussion
This study also offered useful insights into how mediatization impacted the role of official religion as a medium. First of all, the digital media environment offered an alternative platform for marginalized voices, challenging the role of traditional mediators. Second, the members of the digital community also challenged the idea of mediation: in the absence of inclusive mediators, they praised direct and individual relationships with the divine, in line with the hypothesis of an emerging \"post neo-protestant\" faith. However, at the same time, the role of the mediators was also reaffirmed: the community members' individualization of religiosity was not a choice--rather, it was the result of exclusion from the Catholic Church. In line with [PERSON]'s (2018) and [PERSON]'s (2007, 2010) findings, religious communities are sources of advice and support, whose members mobilize religious knowledge. The criticisms that the members expressed toward the traditional religious authorities--in their different forms--were meant to be \"from the inside\": Christian LGBT+ persons did not want to leave the Catholic Church (with some exceptions). In line with [PERSON]'s (2015) findings, the online community offered a safe space for coping with the perceived deficiencies of the offline religious community. Rather than serving as an alternative, the online community was a supplement--a space for the re-plausibilization of religion and for re-embedding oneself in the religious community (see also [PERSON] and [PERSON] 2016). In line with the theory of mediatization, community information on religion came from a variety of sources. Non-Catholic Christian Churches were sometimes identified as reliable sources of alternative visions of homosexuality in Christianity, for example. Moreover, the digital platform offered an opportunity for visibility and networking to minority groups. The availability of information on and symbolic resources relating to religions and the digital platform allowed the community members to propose alternative interpretations of the Catholic doctrine or the compatibility between homosexuality and Catholicism. Finally, the digital LGBT+ forum offered to its members an alternative community in which specific religious authorities were negotiated, challenged, and affirmed. In terms of legitimacy, in the LGBT+ community the traditional authority was profoundly challenged. Instead, members referred to the authority of charisma and the Church as a community, to which they all belong. The shared group culture coalesced around a variety of elements, authorities, and points of reference. Religious authority was challenged as well as reaffirmed. This was related to the specific character of the community--composed of marginalized voices--and to the _type_ of community--an LGBT+ group. In other words, the type of community played a role in the impact of mediatization. Moreover, the challenges to and reaffirmation of religious authority were connected to the changes in the religious practices in contemporary societies. As research shows ([PERSON] 2014), Italian Catholicism is practiced by a minority of the population who is particularly attentive to the orthodoxy and the orthopraxis. From this perspective, the community expressed the fine balance between a largely unchosen autonomy and adherence to the Gospel and [PERSON]'s teachings. In the discussion, it was constantly emphasized that religion is not a matter of choosing the aspects that best suit you. In this sense, LGBT+ Catholics participating in the debates and engaging with the community were not an expression of \"believing without belonging\" ([PERSON] 2007) nor \"belonging without believing\" ([PERSON] 2009). On the contrary, religious authority--in its different forms--was crucial for them, and they tried to bring their voices to the Catholic Church's internal forums. However, their voices remained unheard and almost invisible.