VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis on Sunday urged people to talk to each other at mealtimes instead of using their mobile phones, citing Jesus, Mary and Joseph as an example for families to follow, Reuters reported.

They "prayed, worked and communicated with each other", the Pope told the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square during his weekly Angelus address. "I ask myself if you, in your family, know how to communicate or are you like those kids at meal tables where everyone is chatting on their mobile phone... where there is silence like at a Mass but they don't communicate," the Pope said. "We have to get back to communicating in our families," Pope Francis said in his unscripted remarks.

"Fathers, parents, children, grandparents, brothers and sisters, this is a task to undertake today, on the day of the Holy Family."

"The Holy Family of Nazareth represents a choral response to the will of the Father. The three members of this exceptional family help each other to discover and carry out God's plan," he said.

"The family is a precious treasure: We must always support and protect it," the Pope said, the Catholic News Agency reported.

Pope Francis is an avid user of social media himself, often allowing pilgrims to take selfies with him, the BBC reported. Pope Francis has more than 18 million Twitter followers - and he has rebuked his followers for spending too much time on their mobile devices, especially during mass.

"At a certain point, the priest leading the ceremony says 'lift up our hearts'. He doesn't say 'lift up our mobile phones to take photographs' - it's a very ugly thing," he said in 2017, the BBC reported.

"It's so sad when I'm celebrating Mass here or inside the basilica and I see lots of phones held up - not just by the faithful, but also by priests and bishops! Please!"