Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, died on Easter Monday At the age of 88. Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, was known for his progressive ideals within a traditionally conservative institution and advocated for social and economic justice.
In the weeks preceding the death of Pope Francis, he also shared an important and avant-garde message on new technologies.
“How I would like us to look at the screens less and that we look more in the eyes!” Pope Francis said in a Official video message Translated from his native Spanish language. “Something is not going if we spend more time on our mobile phones than with people.”
Pope’s prayer concerning technology was downloaded only 3 weeks before its death.
Pope Francis’s message was part of the pope “Monthly intentions“For 2025. Each month, the Pope established a” intention of monthly prayer “, where he invited people around the world to join him in prayer on a specific subject. April intention, the final monthly intention before his death, was focused on new technology. The intention and related reflections published on the Pope’s global prayer network Specifically mentioned artificial intelligence, video calls, smartphones and screen time in general.
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“It is true, technology is the fruit of intelligence that God has given us, but we must use it well,” said Pope Francis His April video address. “He can only benefit from it by excluding others.”
In his message, Pope Francis called for the use of technology to “unite, do not divide”. He shared that technology should be used to help the poor, patients and people with different capacities. In accordance with his environmentally friendly messaging in all its papacy, Pope Francis also called for the use of technology to “take care of our common house” and to connect with each other.
Ironically, many social media users highlighted the point of Pope Francis technology immediately after his death, although involuntarily. Once the news has been announced, social networking platforms exploded with memes, many refer to the film 2024 Conclave On the secret meeting of the cardinals after the death of a pope. Others joked about how vice-president JD Vance was among the last people to see the Pope before his death, meeting Pope Francis on Easter Sunday.
“The screen makes us forget that there are real people behind her who breathe, laugh and cry,” said Pope Francis.
In April prayer on the new technology, the Pope shared his hope that “technology does not replace the” person to person “contact, that the virtual does not replace reality and that social networks do not replace social parameters.”
He concluded: “Let us pray that the use of new technologies does not replace human relations, will respect the dignity of the person and will help us to face the crises of our time.”