Pope Francis on Sunday lamented what he called a "culture of insults" enabled by social media and warned against nationalism and other "exclusivist ideas" that he said contrast with a Christian mission to foster harmony.
In his homily during Pentecost Mass Sunday in St. Peter's Square, Francis also decried that "the more we use social media, the less social we are becoming." "In today's world, lack of harmony has led to stark divisions," Francis said.
"There are those who have too much and those who have nothing, those who want to live to a hundred and those who cannot even be born." He warned of the temptation to cling to "our little group, to the things and people we like," concluding that it's only a "small step from a nest to a sect, even within the church."
The Vatican after Mass released a papal message about the church's mission in the world. In it, Francis echoed a call a century ago by Pope Benedict XV, right after the devastation of World War I, for "an end to all forms of nationalism and ethnocentrism."