The Pope has warned against the death of face-to-face conversations, especially among the young, as people pay more attention to their phones than to their fellow humans.
In an improvised speech at the Roma Tre public university, the pontiff warned young people that texting at the dining table could be the first step on the path to war.
He called on young people to get off their phones during family meals, saying it could have dire consequences for society.
Pope Francis said: “When we’re at the table, when we are speaking to others on our telephones, it’s the start of war because there is no dialogue.”
The 80-year old also chastised juniors for their lack of manners, accusing them of swapping a cheery “good morning” for an “anonymous “ciao ciao (bye-bye)”.
He added that it appeared standard in today’s society for people to ‘insult’ strangers.
“We need to lower the tone a bit, speak less and listen more,” he said, adding that “dialogue which brings hearts closer together” is “a medicine against violence”.
Also speaking on another occasion, on Sunday, Francis said cardinals do not always choose “the most intelligent” of their lot to be pontiff.
A child asked Francis during a papal visit to a Rome parish how he became pope.
Francis said the man picked as pontiff “perhaps isn’t the most intelligent, the shrewdest, the quickest to do what has to be done”.
But he says the choice “is the one who God wants for that moment for the church”.
Francis explained while cardinals discuss the strong points of various candidates, “above all they pray”.
Francis asked the children who they thought was the most intelligent cardinal in the secret papal conclave at the Sistine Chapel that ended with his 2013 election.
“You!” they shouted.
But Francis said that was not necessarily the case.
Pope Francis 