Pope Leo XIV has told children at the Vatican’s summer camp that phones and tablets should not take the place of real friendship, family conversation or prayer.

Speaking on Monday during a visit to Estate Ragazzi, the summer camp for children of Vatican employees, the Pope answered questions from young participants and urged them to use technology with care.

The camp’s theme this year is Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. During the encounter, one child asked the Pope about the difficulty of putting away screens during the school year.

Pope Leo acknowledged that technology can be useful, but warned that it should not dominate moments of friendship or family life. When people are together, he said, they do not need to have a mobile phone, smartphone or tablet in their hands all the time.

He encouraged the children to build friendships by spending time together, playing together and studying together. Human contact, he said, remains essential because people are not made to live only through screens.

The Pope extended the point to family life, saying it is not enough for family members to sit in the same room while each person looks at a separate phone. Children and parents, he said, must learn to talk, listen and enjoy one another’s company.

He also connected the question of technology to prayer. While phones can carry the Bible and prayer texts, he said, God does not want to look at people’s phones, but at their hearts and their lives.

Addressing older children in particular, Pope Leo warned that many apps are designed to keep users attached to them for long periods. He said young people should recognise the risk of dependence and learn to set limits, including by putting phones away at certain times of the day.

“We are not all plugged into a cable,” he told them. “We are human beings.”

The Pope also spoke about the need to think for oneself. Asked about his experiences of travel, he recalled occasions when GPS navigation had led him the wrong way in Italy, elsewhere in Europe, in Peru and in the United States.

He used the example to tell the children that technology cannot replace judgement. It is better, he said, to develop the ability to think clearly and know where one is going in life.

“I do not need my phone if my brain is working,” he said, encouraging the children to use the abilities God has given them.

At the end of the meeting, Pope Leo was named “Chief Explorer” of the summer camp and was given an explorer’s kit and a commemorative plaque.

He closed the encounter by praying with the children and asking them to tell their parents they had prayed together with the Pope.

“Prayer is very important for us,” he said. “We want Jesus to be here with us.”

‍