Once a year, for the six weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, Christians practice self-denial—giving up everything from sugar or alcohol to takeout or procrastinating.
If you’re thinking of giving up something this Lent (which began yesterday), Pope Francis has a thoroughly modern suggestion.
During his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope urged the 12,000 people gathered to “disconnect from cell phones and connect to the Gospel.”
In other words: Stop being a jerk to people you don’t even know.
The speech, partially quoted online by the Catholic News Agency and Reuters, laments a society “inundated with empty words,” where people “insult each other as if they were saying ‘Good day.'”
When His Holiness was just a child, his family didn’t own a television. But they did make a point not to listen to the radio during Lent. Keeping chatter to a minimum, he said, helps believers “speak directly to the Lord.”
No matter your religion (or lack thereof), the Pope’s words feel relevant and, frankly, necessary.
“We live in an environment polluted by too much verbal violence,” he explained. “By many offensive and harmful words, which the internet amplifies.
“We are inundated with empty words, with advertisements, with subtle messages,” the Supreme Pontiff continued. “We have become used to hearing everything about everyone and we risk slipping into a worldliness that atrophies our hearts.”
Last year, Pope Francis asked followers to give up gossip and hypocritical condemnations of others. In 2018, the 83-year-old Argentinian made a general call to “pause a little” in this fast-paced world.
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