img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45533000/jpg/_45533360_cardinalphoneafp226b.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt="Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone holds his mobile phone (2005)" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"p class="first"bThe archbishop of the Italian city of Modena wants young Catholics to give up text messaging, social networking websites and computer games for Lent./bpMonsignor Benito Cocchi said foregoing the activities would help them "cleanse themselves from the virtual world and get back into touch with themselves", pThe average Italian sends 50 texts a month from their mobiles, the second highest rate in Europe, behind the UK.pOther Italian bishops have given their backing to the appeal.pIn Trento, Archbishop Luigi Bressan has meanwhile suggested people use Lent to embrace recycling. Venice's bishop has said worshippers might want to give up mineral water and drink only tap water.pFather Gianni Fazzini of the Venice diocese told the newspaper, La Repubblica: "If people renounce things individually, it can produce a collective change.p"It's a reaction to the economic crisis: in changing our consumer habits we can also meet our responsibility as Christians to safeguard God's Creation," he added.pPope Benedict XVI warned in January that people who spent too much time in front of their computers risked isolation and depression.pLent, which for most Christian congregations runs from Ash Wednesday to Easter, commemorates the 40 days that Jesus is said to have spent fasting in the desert and rejecting the temptations of Satan before beginning his ministryhrpThis article is from the a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk"BBC News website/a. #169; British Broadcasting Corporation/pdiv class="feedflare"
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