Vatican City, Nov 19, 2021 / 09:00 am
Pope Francis spoke about dialogue, the search for truth, and the inalienable dignity of every human person in a meeting on Friday with the Swedish Academy, which awards the yearly Nobel Prize in Literature.
“The pervasive growth of social media risks replacing dialogue with a welter of monologues, often aggressive in tone,” the pope said Nov. 19 in the Vatican’s Hall of Popes.
He added that COVID-19 had tested the capacity to dialogue with others. He pointed to the long periods of confinement and the deep effect that the pandemic has had on people, even unconsciously.
“We find ourselves a little more distant from others, a little more reserved, perhaps more guarded, or simply less inclined to join with others, to work side by side, with the satisfaction and effort born of building something together,” he noted.