The pope wants you to ‘switch off’. Here's why

Jul 19, 2021

This article is published in collaboration with Reuters

Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican following intestinal surgery, at the Vatican.

Pope Francis gave his weekly address from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square. Image: REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Reuters Staff

Our Impact

What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Wellbeing and Mental Health?

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Peace and Resilience is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Peace and Resilience

Pope Francis made his first public appearance following a hospital stay.
He told well-wishing crowds that they should take a break and switch off from the stresses of modern life.
He urged an end to the recent public unrest in South Africa and called for peace and dialogue in Cuba.
He also talked about the recent floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which have killed more than 180 people.
The pope had part of his colon removed in an operation on July 4.

Pope Francis made his first public appearance since returning to the Vatican mid-week after an 11-day hospital stay, telling wellwishers they should take a break and switch off from the stresses of modern life.

"Let us put a halt to the frantic running around dictated by our agendas. Let us learn how to take a break, to turn off the mobile phone," Pope Francis said in his weekly address from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

The 84-year-old pope had part of his colon removed in an operation on July 4 -- the first time that Francis has faced a significant health concern during his eight-year papacy. read more

Have you read?

He returned to the Vatican on Wednesday, where he needed help from assistants to get out of his car. He looked well on Sunday, speaking in a relatively clear voice although not as strong as before his hospitalisation. He did not mention his stay in hospital.

Hundreds of people were gathered in the sunny square and cheered when he appeared at the open window.

As is often the case, at the end of his address the pope mentioned some of the events dominating world headlines.

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing about mental health?

One in four people will experience mental illness in their lives, costing the global economy an estimated $6 trillion by 2030.

Mental ill-health is the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes in young people aged 10–24 years, contributing up to 45% of the overall burden of disease in this age-group. Yet globally, young people have the worst access to youth mental health care within the lifespan and across all the stages of illness (particularly during the early stages).

In response, the Forum has launched a global dialogue series to discuss the ideas, tools and architecture in which public and private stakeholders can build an ecosystem for health promotion and disease management on mental health.

One of the current key priorities is to support global efforts toward mental health outcomes - promoting key recommendations toward achieving the global targets on mental health, such as the WHO Knowledge-Action-Portal and the Countdown Global Mental Health

Read more about the work of our Platform for Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare, and contact us to get involved.

He urged an end to the recent public unrest in South Africa and called for peace and dialogue in Cuba after unprecedented, protests rocked the Communist-run country. read more

"I am also close to the dear people of Cuba in these difficult times, in particular to the families who especially suffer," Francis said to cheers.

He also referred to catastrophic floods in recent days in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which have killed more than 180 people.

Reporting by Crispian Balmer Editing by Frances Kerry

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.