Leave the cellphone, take the Bible, Pope Francis said on Sunday.

“What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the message of God contained in the Bible the way we read messages on our cellphones?” the pontiff said during his weekly blessing in St. Peter’s Square.

“During the forty days of Lent, as Christians we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and address the spiritual battle against evil with the power of the Word of God,” Francis told those gathered. “For this you have to become familiar with the Bible, read it often, meditate on it, assimilate it.”

Francis, 80, encouraged people to carry a pocket-sized Bible with them at all times.

“Don’t forget what would happen if we treated the Bible as we treat our cellphone, always with us, always close to us!,” he said.

With Post wires