Tokyo, Japan, Nov 24, 2019 / 21:28 pm
If people neglect prayer and the interior life, they are at risk of becoming spiritual zombies, who seem fine on the outside, but on the inside are lonely and lacking life, Pope Francis said Monday.
Speaking to around 900 young people in Tokyo's Cathedral of Holy Mary, the pope reflected that "a person, a community, or even a whole society can be highly developed on the outside, but have an interior life that is impoverished and under-developed, lacking real life and vitality."
"Everything bores them; they no longer dream, laugh or play. They have no sense of wonder or surprise," he said Nov. 25. "They are like zombies; their hearts have stopped beating because of their inability to celebrate life with others."
The encounter with young people, including both Catholics and non-Catholics, was part of the pope's final full day of a six-day papal visit to Thailand and Japan. He will return to Rome Nov. 26.