‘Put down those smartphones!’ Pope tells bishops

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis took snap-happy bishops, priests, and pilgrims to task on Wednesday, telling them mass was a time for prayer, not an opportunity to whip out camera phones.

“At a certain point the priest

leading the ceremony says ‘lift up our hearts’. He doesn’t say ‘lift up our mobile phones to take photographs’,” he chastised those gathered in Saint Peter’s square for his weekly audience.

“It’s so sad when I’m celebrating mass here or inside the basilica and I see lots of phones held up – not just by the faithful, but also by priests and bishops! Please!”

The 80-year-old Argentine pontiff is no stranger to the world of social media, boasting over 14 million followers on his Englishlanguage Twitter account alone, and often posing for selfies with enthusiastic young pilgrims.

But he has a conflicted relationship with mobiles.

In February he told youngsters to get off their cell phones during family meals, warning that the death of face-to-face conversations can have dire consequences for society, even resulting in wars.

He has called the Internet, social media and text messages “a gift of God” if used wisely, but has also tried to persuade today’s youth to swap their smartphones for pocket-sized bibles.

In Manila In Manila, a Catholic Church official has reminded church goers to “be more responsible” in the use of their mobile phones in church, emphasizing though that the church is not inclined to ban its use.

“Church-goers should be responsible enough to refrain from using phones during church services,” Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Public Affairs Committee, said in an interview.

The faithful, he said, should be “mature enough” to realize that using phones “deviate” from the objective of praying while inside the church.

Secillano explained that the church is not inclined to ban mobile phones as banning it smacks of control which the faithful practically abhor.

Cigarette sales Meanwhile, Pope Francis also outlawed the sale of cigarettes at the Vatican in a bid to lead by example on healthy living, an AFP report said.

“The Holy Father has decided that the Vatican will cease to sell cigarettes to employees as of 2018,” the Vatican said in a statement on Thursday.

“The reason is very simple: the Holy See cannot contribute to an activity that clearly damages the health of people,” it said, adding that smoking claims more than seven million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization.

“Although the cigarettes sold to employees and pensioners in the Vatican at a reduced price are a source of revenue for the Holy See, no profit can be legitimate if it puts lives at risk,” it added.

Francis, who has only one lung, does not smoke. He has let the locals keep their other guilty pleasure, tax-free alcohol.

The cigarettes and booze are sold in a luxury duty-free shop, opened in 2003 in what was once the Vatican’s magnificent railway station but is now home to everything from designer handbags and shoes to flat-screen televisions.

Only those with a pass – Vatican employees or pensioners – can shop there, and many pick up goods, food and even fuel inside the city for Italian friends on the other side of the tiny state’s imposing walls. (With a report from Leslie Aquino)