School Bullying Prepares Students for War, Pope Says

Pope Francis warned that bullying in schools prepares students for war rather than peace, in a speech to Catholic educators gathered at the Vatican on Saturday. Speaking to about 2,000 Italian teachers, educators, and parents, Francis asked the audience to pledge to fight bullying both at school and at home, the AP reports. He praised educational efforts at schools to promote peace, noting that "imagining peace" lays the foundations for "a more just and fraternal world" through "every subject taught and through the creativity of children and young people."

"But if, at school, you wage war among yourselves or engage in bullying, you are preparing for war, not for peace," he said. The pope also called for more dialogue within families, emphasizing that "it is dialogue that makes us grow." In warning against a "remote pedagogy, distant from people," he stressed that effective education needs proximity and engagement, per the Catholic News Agency. To make his point, he talked about parents and children sitting together in a restaurant but focusing on their cellphones instead of engaging in conversation.

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