Pope Francis urges families to put away phones

Pope Francis encouraged the faithful gathered in Saint Peter's Square on Sunday to talk with each other at mealtimes instead of using their cellphones.

"We have to get back to communicating in our families," the Pope said during his weekly Angelus address at the Vatican City.

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"Fathers, parents, children, grandparents, brothers and sisters — this is a task to undertake today, on the day of the Holy Family," he said.

Sunday marked the day of the Holy Family in the Catholic calendar, a day on which Jesus, Mary and Joseph are venerated as the model Christian family. 

They "prayed, worked and communicated with each other," the pope said of the Holy Family.

"I ask myself if your family know how to communicate, or are you like those kids at meal tables where everyone is chatting on their mobile phone ... where there is silence like at a Mass," the pope asked the crowd.

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Feast of the Holy Family

The annual Feast of the Holy Family takes place on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's Day. If both are Sundays, the day is celebrated on December 30. 

The liturgical celebration is believed to have been established in the 17th century by Saint Francois de Laval, the first bishop of New France, an area in northern America colonized by France at the time. 

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