Pope Francis: in-flight presser

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis spoke with reporters on the return flight from Sarajevo to Rome on Saturday. In response to the journalists’ questions, the Holy Father touched on a number of topics ranging from global peace and security to the need for prudence in choosing what television programmes to watch and how much time to spend on-line.

“There are two different elements here: method and content. Regarding the method or way of doing things, there is one that is bad for the soul and that is being too attached to the computer,” said Pope Francis. “Secondly, the content,” he continued. “[T]here is a lot of filth that ranges from pornography to semi-pornographic content, to programmes that are empty, devoid of values; relativism and consumerism foment all this,” said the Holy Father, “and we know that consumerism is a cancer of society, relativism is a cancer of society.”

The Holy Father also mentioned the process of evaluation of the claims of miraculous apparitions at Medjugorje (ongoing, and nearing completion), and confirmed that his new encyclical will be out before the end of this month.