Pope Francis to youth in Greece: Don’t be ‘prisoners of the cell phone’

Pope Francis urged young people in Athens on Monday not to be “prisoners of the cell phone,” but to truly share their lives with others.

Speaking in a school sports hall in a suburb of the Greek capital on Dec. 6, the pope said that helping others was “the way to bring about something truly new in history.”

“Many people today are constantly using social media, but are not themselves very social: they are caught up in themselves, prisoners of the cell phone in their hand,” he said, in his last address before departing for Rome at the end of a three-day visit to Greece.

“What appears on the screen is not the reality of other persons: their eyes, their breath, and their hands. The screen can easily become a mirror, where you think you are looking at the world, but in reality, you are all alone before a virtual world full of appearances, of photos dressed up to look always beautiful and acceptable.”

“Yet how beautiful it is simply to be together with other people, to discover the newness of others! Cultivate the mystique of togetherness, the joy of sharing, the enthusiasm of serving!”

The pope arrived in Greece on Dec. 3 after a two-day visit to Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. In a packed itinerary, he met Cypriot authorities, Orthodox bishops, local Catholics, and migrants, as well as celebrating Mass in the country’s largest stadium.

The 84-year-old pope’s three days in neighboring Greece included meetings with political authorities, Orthodox leaders, the Catholic community, local Jesuits, and migrants on the island of Lesbos. He also celebrated Mass at a concert hall in the capital.

Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic, is a predominantly Orthodox country of 10.7 million people, around 50,000 of whom are Catholic.

Seating on a dais at the end of a basketball court, the pope listened to the testimonies of three young people: Katerina Binibini, a young Filipina; Ioanna Vidali, from Tinos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea; and Aboud Gabro, from Syria.

Katerina Binibini said that she struggled with doubt when confronted with people’s suffering.

“I have also had moments of anger and jealousy at seeing people who are not believers and who seem to have no pain or problems, while I, as a faithful Christian, feel constantly challenged,” she said. “Many times I think how unjust God is.”

But she said that the pandemic had helped her to accept setbacks and face life in a new way.

“I realized that in difficult times we are all equal and that we must convert our individualistic mentality to help others,” she said at the live-streamed event.