@Pontifex has spoken…
Lent is upon us.
You may be giving up chocolate or cigarettes or alcohol or, if you’re a particular bastion of willpower, all three.
If you’re getting involved, best of luck. If not, it’s business as usual, really. One man very much settling in for the long haul is Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and general Lent enthusiast.
Addressing the solemn holiday in a speech at Vatican City on Wednesday, the Pope outlined the basic characteristics thereof before highlighting a more modern and especially noisy aspect of society – social media.
#Lent is a time of grace, a time for recognizing that our lowly #ashes are loved by God and for letting God gaze upon us with love, and in this way change our lives. We were put in this world to go from ashes to life.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 26, 2020
“We live in an environment polluted by too much verbal violence, by many offensive and harmful words, which the Internet amplifies,” he explained.
“Today, people insult each other as if they were saying ‘Good Day’… We are inundated with empty words, with advertisements, with subtle messages.
“We have become used to hearing everything about everyone and we risk slipping into a worldliness that atrophies our hearts.”
The Pontifex also noted that Lent “is a time to give up useless words, gossip, rumours, tittle-tattle and speak to God on a first name basis,” though presumably not via direct message on Twitter.
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