Pope Francis lamented the tendency to send text messages or watch TV during mealtimes with other people, during a homily yesterday at the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.

The Pope said that such practices make people "indifferent" to meetings with other human beings, leaving "no encounter", the Catholic News Agency reported.

"In our families, at the dinner table, how many times while eating, do people watch the TV or write messages on their cell phones," he said. "Each one is indifferent to that encounter. Even within the heart of society, which is the family, there is no encounter".

We should, he said, "strive for this culture of encounter, just as simply as Jesus did so": "...Not just see, but look. Not just hear, but listen. Not just meet and pass by, but stop".

The Pope said that in the face of tragedy, we should not say, "What a shame, poor people." Instead, we should "allow ourselves to be moved by pity".

He went on: "And then draw near, touch and say in the language that comes to each one of us in that moment, the language of the heart: 'Do not weep,' and donate at the very least a drop of life."

Returning to his theme of indifference, the Pope said we react inadequately when we encounter tragedy, saying: "What a shame, poor people, look how they are suffering." He continued: "We are accustomed to a culture of indifference and we must strive and ask for the grace to create a culture of encounter, of a fruitful encounter, of an encounter that restores to each person his or her own dignity as a child of God, the dignity of a living person".

This is not the first time the Pope has warned against using mobile phones at the dinner table. Last year, he told a general audience at St Peter's Square: "A family that almost never eats together, or that never speaks at the table but looks at the television or the smartphone, is hardly a family."

And in 2014, the Pope urged young people to stop wasting time on mobiles and the internet.

He said: "Perhaps many young people waste too much time in useless things: chatting on the internet or with your mobile phone ... the products of technology that should simplify and improve the quality of life, but sometimes take attention away from what is really important."