Pope Leo XIV encouraged Catholics to turn off smartphones, televisions, and radios during Lent to foster silence and prayer. The Pope suggested using the time gained to meditate on the Word of God, approach the sacraments, and listen to the Holy Spirit. The appeal was made during the Angelus address on the First Sunday of Lent, framing the season as a journey of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The Pope also demanded an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, emphasizing that peace cannot be delayed as the conflict approaches its fourth year.
13 days ago
Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to switch off smartphones, televisions, and radios during Lent to create space for silence, prayer, and meditation on the Word of God.1
He emphasized drawing near to the sacraments and listening to the Holy Spirit and one another during this season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.1
In his Angelus address, the Pope called for an end to fighting in Ukraine as the war nears its fourth year, insisting that peace "cannot be postponed."1
He highlighted the victims, broken families, destruction, and sufferings, renewing appeals for weapons to fall silent, bombings to end, and dialogue to strengthen.1
Leo encouraged simplifying daily life to encounter God and devoting time to the lonely, elderly, poor, and sick.1
He advised renouncing the superfluous and sharing savings with those in need.1
Reflecting on the Gospel, the Pope described Jesus feeling the weight of humanity amid physical hunger and moral temptations from the devil.1
He warned against modern seductions like wealth, fame, and power, which offer poor substitutes for true joy and leave people dissatisfied.1
The address followed Mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus church near Rome’s Termini station, a diverse neighborhood.1
Quoting Pope St. Paul VI, Leo said penance enriches humanity toward love and abandonment in the Lord, entrusting the Lenten journey to the Virgin Mary.1
Encourage digital silence to deepen Lenten prayer and contemplation
In this Lenten season of 2026, themed by Pope Leo XIV as "Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion," we are invited to a profound renewal that touches every aspect of our lives, including our immersion in the digital world. Embracing digital silence—a deliberate detachment from screens, social media, and constant connectivity—serves as a powerful form of fasting, creating space for deeper prayer, contemplation, and encounter with God. This practice counters the "overload of stimuli and data" that robs our attention, fostering instead the silence essential for discernment and true presence with the Lord and others. As the Dicastery for Communication urges, such a "digital detox" is not mere withdrawal but a pathway to engage more deeply with God amid the noise of modern life.
Today's digital culture bombards us relentlessly, making silence a "precious commodity" that ensures "space for focus and discernment." The Church has long reflected on this reality, from World Communications Day messages since 1967 to Pope Benedict XVI's call for media to promote "a culture of respect, dialogue and friendship," and Pope Francis's recognition that the digital world is now "indistinguishable from the sphere of everyday life." Yet, this environment often fragments our attention, hindering the contemplative heart needed for spiritual growth.
Pope Francis, in his catechesis on Saint Joseph, portrays silence not as mutism but as a "contemplative dimension of life" full of listening and interiority. Joseph, the man who spoke no words in the Gospels, models how silence allows the Word of God—Jesus—to increase within us, diminishing empty chatter. "Profoundness of the heart grows with silence," the Pope teaches, warning against the fear of quiet that drives us to fill every moment with devices, leading to superficiality. Similarly, Pope Paul VI emphasized that "times of silence are demanded by love of God," a solitude where we hear Him "speaking to his heart," renewing our vigor for faith, hope, and charity. In families, schools, and communities, detaching from digital devices becomes urgent, transforming silence into an "industrious" space for the Holy Spirit's work.
Lent calls us to traditional practices—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—not as external rituals but as signs of inner conversion. Pope Leo XIV extends this to our language and listening, urging abstinence from "words that offend and hurt our neighbor," such as harsh judgments or slander on social media, to make room for "words of hope and peace." This Lenten fasting from digital noise aligns perfectly: just as we abstain from food to purify body and soul, we fast from screens to elevate the spirit. "With fasting the spirit is raised," as one Lenten Preface proclaims, detoxifying us from sin's pollution and opening us to God's voice.
The Ukrainian Catholic Catechism echoes this, defining authentic fasting as abstaining from "every passion," controlling the tongue, and purifying soul and flesh for spiritual combat. In Lent's progressive journey—from repentance's seeds to virtues' maturity—we are prepared to adore Christ's Passion through such discipline. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that fasting educates us in renunciation, freeing us from self-slavery to listen attentively to God and serve others. Pope Francis adds that prayer itself demands silence: arriving early at Mass for recollection, not chatter, to encounter Jesus as a child rests in the Father. Without this, we risk nourishing ourselves poorly, unable to live by the Gospel.
To implement this, begin simply:
Pope Leo XIV calls parishes and families to this communal path, where listening to God's Word and the poor's cry fosters repentance and justice. As Saint John Chrysostom noted, these Lenten "arms" combat vice, much like digital silence combats distraction.
This practice yields profound fruits. Silence fosters self-knowledge, confronting our "most true" selves without fear, as Pascal observed: humanity's unhappiness stems from inability to "stay quietly in [its] own chamber." It regenerates us, consoles, corrects, and aligns words with deeds, per Saint Joseph's example. In liturgy, silence is the "seal" of the Spirit's action, where our worship takes form from His quiet power. Ultimately, it renews our inner self amid outer decay, passing on lived faith as signs of hope.
In conclusion, this Lent, let digital silence be your fasting companion, deepening prayer and contemplation as Pope Leo XIV envisions. Detach to attach more fully to Christ, cultivating hearts where His Word leaps forth in quiet. May Saint Joseph intercede, teaching us to let silence herald God's gentle manifestation.