--- description: Pope Francis has called on young people the world over to resist the "false image of reality" portrayed by social media and reality TV. title: Pope Francis Says the Catholic Church is Not a Flash Mob image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae5212bb89d0eb3c/6988bf568fd2ee4f423563bb/gettyimages-655527480.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Pope Tells Young People to Resist Social Media's 'False Image of Reality' by [Ryan Kilpatrick](/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 22, 2017 5:16 AM CUT  Pope Francis meets during an audience at the Apostrolic Palace on March 20, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis meets during an audience at the Apostrolic Palace on March 20, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican.Vatican—Pool/Getty Images by [Ryan Kilpatrick](/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 22, 2017 5:16 AM CUT Pope Francis has called on young people the [world over to resist](https://www.yahoo.com/tech/pope-tells-young-resist-false-reality-social-media-165048243.html "undefined") the “false image of reality” portrayed by social media and reality TV and take charge of their own destiny. “Don’t let yourselves be led astray by this false image of reality! Be the protagonists of your history; decide your own future,” he said according to Agence France-Presse. In a video message for World Youth Day, which falls on April 9, the head of the Catholic Church said that those who call today’s youth “distracted and superficial” are wrong. “To have a past is not the same as to have a history,” Francis said, urging faithful youngsters to spend more time with their grandparents. The pontiff also hit out at excessive smart phone use and [cautioned](http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/03/21/the-church-is-not-a-flash-mob-the-pope-tells-young-catholics/?utm%5Fcontent=bufferd793b&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer "undefined") that “the Church is not like a flash mob, where people agree to meet, do their thing and then go their separate ways,” according to the _Catholic Herald_. \[[_AFP_](https://www.yahoo.com/tech/pope-tells-young-resist-false-reality-social-media-165048243.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4708807/pope-francis-social-media-world-youth-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4708807/pope-francis-social-media-world-youth-day/"},"headline":"The Pope Tells Young People to Resist Social Media's 'False Image of Reality'","datePublished":"2017-03-22T05:16:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:57:51.661Z","description":"In his World Youth Day message, the pontiff slammed excessive smartphone use","url":"https://time.com/4708807/pope-francis-social-media-world-youth-day/","keywords":["Religion","Pope Francis topic","Catholic Church","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae5212bb89d0eb3c/6988bf568fd2ee4f423563bb/gettyimages-655527480.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Kilpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-kilpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae5212bb89d0eb3c/6988bf568fd2ee4f423563bb/gettyimages-655527480.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Meets President of Ruanda Paul Kagame","caption":"Pope Meets President of Ruanda Paul Kagame","creditText":"Vatican—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4708807/pope-francis-social-media-world-youth-day/","name":"The Pope Tells Young People to Resist Social Media's 'False Image of Reality'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Pope Francis: Read the Bible as Often as You Check Your Cellphone","description":"Pope Francis has called on the faithful to consult the Bible with the same frequency as they might consult their cellphones for messages.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gJ1Ci07L/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-05T19:42:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gJ1Ci07L.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4708807/pope-francis-social-media-world-youth-day/","duration":"PT34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4708807/pope-francis-social-media-world-youth-day/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```