The not-yet-forgotten pandemic restrictions related to COVID-19, which affected the religious sector in an unprecedented manner, significantly contributed to the intimisation and virtualisation of spiritual expressions. Religiosity that had previously been experienced both internally and externally, two essential dimensions of any religious act, was transformed into a predominantly private and virtual phenomenon. This transformation affected not only the ordinary liturgical life intrinsically linked to ecclesial community and sacred space, but also extraordinary forms of religiosity, including pilgrimage. Although the phenomenon of virtual pilgrimage to online chapels and shrines was known prior to the pandemic, developments in recent years have substantially increased interest in this form of devotion. Since pilgrimage to a sacred site requires both spiritual engagement and bodily participation, this study examines the possibilities and prospects of this emerging form of a traditional religious practice. The question of whether virtual pilgrimage may, in the future, constitute an independent and, in a certain sense, autonomous form of spiritual expression, or whether it represents merely a temporary phenomenon, emerges from an analysis of faith in both its bodily (external) and spiritual (internal) dimensions. Since these two dimensions are inseparable components of faith, virtual pilgrimage can be considered as a distinct phenomenon only in relation, whether close or remote, to physical pilgrimage. Nevertheless, to adequately acknowledge that virtual pilgrimage bears the characteristics of the “signs of the times”, it should be evaluated in a new, more comprehensive, and open manner. It may thus be understood as a primary spiritual phenomenon with the potential to significantly influence the pilgrim’s inner disposition and thereby substantially contribute to the attainment of the goals of pilgrimage, whether or not physical participation is possible.
Hlad et al. (Fri,) studied this question.