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Pope Francis encourages families: Put down your phones, talk during meals

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Pope Francis encourages families: Put down your phones, talk during meals
Pope Francis addresses the crowd from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking Saint Peter's square in the Vatican during his Sunday Angelus prayer on December 29, 2019
AFP / Tiziana FABI

MANILA, Philippines — On the Day of the Holy Family, Pope Francis urged families to put their phones down and communicate during meals.

In his weekly Angelus message delivered December 29, the pope said that Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the Holy Family, “prayed, worked... and communicated,” and they helped each other “to discover and fulfil God’s plan.”

He posed this question to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square: “Do you know how to communicate?”

The pope’s message was streamed by Vatican News.

“Or are you like those boys at the table, with the telephone at the table touching it always? It seems at the table that there is silence as if we were at mass but there is no communication,” the pope said.

“We need to rediscover in the family—fathers and parents with their children with grandparents but communication as brothers among themselves. This is a task we need to do today, specifically today the day of the Holy Family,” Pope Francis added.

The pope encouraged families to emulate the Holy Family.

This, Pope Francis said, would help “parents and children might mutually sustain each other in adhering to the Gospel, the foundation of Holiness in the family.”

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis reminded the Catholic faithful of God’s unconditional love.

“You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you,” the pontiff told crowds gathered at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve midnight mass. – Kristine Joy Patag with a report from Agence France Presse

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