During today’s General Audience, Pope Francis went off-script to scold people who use cellphones during Mass to take pictures, calling this behavior a distraction that takes our focus away from the Eucharist.

CNA/EWTN News is reporting on the reprimand which came today when the Pope told those attending the Audience: “The Mass is not a show: it is to go to meet the passion and resurrection of the Lord. The Lord is here with us, present. Many times we go there, we look at things and chat among ourselves while the priest celebrates the Eucharist… But it is the Lord!”

He specifically condemned the use of cellphones to take photos at papal Masses, saying that during Mass, the priest says “we lift up our hearts.”

“He does not say, ‘We lift up our phones to take photographs!’” the pope said.

“It’s a bad thing! And I tell you that it gives me so much sadness when I celebrate here in the Piazza or Basilica and I see so many raised cellphones, not just of the faithful, even of some priests and even bishops.”

He added: “But think: when you go to Mass, the Lord is there! And you’re distracted. (But) it is the Lord!”

The Eucharist is the new focus of the Pope’s weekly catechesis because “it is fundamental for us Christians to understand well the value and meaning of the Holy Mass to live more and more fully our relationship with God,” he said.

Before concluding the Audience, he also drew attention to the chaotic way that children bless themselves, moving their hand all over their chest.

“We need to teach children to do the sign of the cross well,” he said, noting that this is how Mass begins, because just as Mass begins this way, “so life begins, so the day begins.”

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