We may be well into Lent already, but that hasn’t stopped Monsignor Benito Cocchi, the archbishop of the city of Modena in Italy, urging penance on his flock. He wants young Catholics to give up texting, social networking sites, and computer games until Easter, according to the BBC. In doing that, he said, they would "cleanse themselves from the virtual world and get back into touch with themselves."
Other Italian archbishops have given their backing to the call, and in January Pope Benedict XVI said people were spending too much time in front of their computers, putting themselves at risk of depression and isolation.
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On average, Italians send 50 mobile phone texts a month, the second highest figure in Europe after the UK.
