Pope francis criticized the “virtual world full of appearances, of photos doctored to always look beautiful and fit“from social networks, when participating in a meeting with young Greeks in Athens, in the last activity of their five-day tour of the Mediterranean.
Francisco returned to Rome today after his trips to Cyprus and Greece in which he sought to draw world attention for the situation of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.
The pontiff landed at the Ciampino airport in the Italian capital at 12:51 pm this Monday (8:51 am in Argentina) after a two-hour flight from Athens.
Francisco, who will turn 85 on December 17, called during his passage through the Mediterranean for a European commitment to “tear down the walls” towards migrants and described the drama of the refugees as “a global problem”, when visiting the island on Sunday Greek of Lesbos.
Before leaving for Rome, the Pope met with former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and presided over a meeting with young people.
“Today we are in danger of forgetting who we are, obsessed by thousands of appearances, by crushing messages that make life depend on the clothes we wear, the car we drive, the way others look at us,” said the pontiff. meeting young Greeks at a Catholic school in Athens.
“You are not worth the brand of clothing or footwear you wear, but because you are unique, you are unique,” Jorge Bergoglio told them during the meeting at the San Dionisio school, of the Ursuline nuns of the Hellenic country.
“You are not worth the brand of clothing or footwear you wear, but because you are unique, you are unique”
“I think of another ancient image, that of the mermaids. Like Ulysses on his journey back home, you too in life, which is a daring journey to the House of the Father, will find mermaids. In myth they attracted sailors with their song to make them crash against the reefs, “said the 84-year-old Argentine pontiff.
“In reality, the mermaids of today want to hypnotize you with seductive and insistent messages, which point to easy profits, the false needs of consumerism, the cult of physical well-being, fun at all costs,” he warned.
In his speech, after citing the classic of Greek literature, the Pope encouraged young people to have a different relationship with social networks.
“Do you want to do something new in life? Do you want to rejuvenate? Do not be content with publishing a post or a tweet,” he said in that framework.
“Don’t be content with virtual encounters, look for the real ones, especially with those who need you; don’t look for visibility, but for the invisible ones. This is original, this is revolutionary,” said Francisco.
“Don’t be content with virtual encounters, look for the real ones, especially with those who need you; don’t look for visibility, but for the invisible ones. This is original, this is revolutionary”
Thus, for the Pope, “many today are” from social networks “but few” social “, closed in on themselves, prisoners of the telephone they hold in their hands. But the other is missing on the screen, their eyes, their breathing, are missing. her hands”.
“The screen easily becomes a mirror, where you think you are in front of the world, but in reality you are alone, in a virtual world full of appearances, of photos tricked to always look beautiful and fit,” he added in what was the last activity of his five-day tour of Cyprus and Greece during which he is accompanied by an envoy from Telam aboard the papal plane.
After saying goodbye to the Greek authorities, Francis left Athens on an Egean flight with which he landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport two hours later. The Pope’s Mediterranean tour was his third trip to Italy in 2021, following visits to Iraq, in March, already Budapest and Slovakia in September.
