Why Pope Francis is Urging Families to Put Down Their Phones
Pope Francis – by all rites the most open minded Pontiff to come to light in recent years -- is closing the door on at least some of what technology can do when it comes to bringing the family closer together.
His holiness is pleading with families to put aside their iPhones and Twitter feeds and simply learn to talk to one another again.
In his annual message for the church's World Day of Communications, released Friday, Francis said: "The great challenge facing us today is to learn once again how to talk to one another, not simply how to generate and consume information."
The theme of this 2015's message coincides with Francis' two-year focus on families, which will culminate this coming October with a meeting of bishops to organize methods to minister to families living with divorce, de-facto unions, gay children, and other issues that affect the traditional view of the family.
Francis declared that children first learn to communicate in the family. Children figure out how to get along with people of different ages and experience this way and as a result, he said, families are the model for all communications since it is in the family where children first learn the act of forgiveness.
As reported in an AP article reprinted in U.S. News he said that a perfect family did not exist but that: "We should not be fearful of imperfections, weaknesses or even conflict, but rather learn how to deal with them constructively."
Francis referred to families Friday in a separate speech to the Roman Rota, the Vatican tribunal which handles annulment cases, calling for church tribunals worldwide to offer annulment services for free, as all Catholics have the right to justice from the church.
"Sacraments are free," explained Pope Francis.
Francis said tribunal judges should take into account that ignorance of the faith can be a reason to declare a marriage invalid.
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