Tony Gentile/Reuters
In a New Year’s Day homily delivered at St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday, Pope Francis called for an end to “empty chatter” and urged the world to spend more time observing silence in 2018. He said doing so would “keep our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting.” The pontiff did not address his recommendations to any person or thing in particular, but he warned against the “false” depiction of reality created by social media earlier this year and urged young people to find “meaning” outside of Twitter. His comments on Monday came as President Trump, perhaps the only American president known for using social media to vent, embarked on his latest Twitter tirade. Trump began the new year by slamming Pakistan for its “lies and deceit” and saying Iran is “failing at every level.”