Pope Leo XIV urged United States high school students to be “intentional” with their screen time, their prayer time and their involvement in a local parish. Source: CNS.
“One of my own personal heroes, one of my favourite saints, is St Augustine of Hippo,” the Pope told 16,000 young Catholics meeting in Indianapolis. “He searched everywhere for happiness, but nothing satisfied him until he opened his heart to God. That is why he wrote, ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you’.”
With a livestream connection, Pope Leo spoke for close to an hour on Friday with participants at the National Catholic Youth Conference meeting at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The Pope responded to questions from five high school students. The questions were developed in meetings with other students and adults and were sent to the Pope in advance.
Katie Prejean McGrady, who was moderating the event, mentioned that she had given the Pope a pair of socks some time ago and said she wanted to know what he used as an opening word when he played Wordle each day.
“I just want to say I only wear white socks, and I use a different word for Wordle every day, so there’s no set starting word,” the Pope said, before turning to the young people’s questions.
The Pope was asked for advice on balancing the use of smartphones and social media with “making faith connections outside of technology”.
Pope Leo, using technology to address the students, listed many good things technology does. For example, “it lets us stay connected with people who are far away,” he said, and there are “amazing tools for prayer, for reading the Bible, for learning more about what we believe, and it allows us to share the Gospel with people we may never meet in person.”
“But even with all that, technology can never replace real, in-person relationships; simple things (like) a hug, a handshake, a smile – all those things are essential to being human,” he said.
Pope Leo encouraged the students to follow the example of St Carlo Acutis, who used technology to spread devotion to the Eucharist but limited his time online and made sure he went to Mass, spent time in Eucharistic adoration and served the poor.
“Be intentional with your screen time,” the Pope told the young people. “Make sure technology serves your life and not the other way around.”
FULL STORY
Pope tells U.S. high school students their voice, ideas, faith matter (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
