Hawzah News Agency - At the interfaith child dignity summit in the Vatican, El-Tayeb said 'digital development had taken away children's dreams and innocence'.

In a speech during the second  "Interfaith Summit on Promoting Child Dignity in the Digital World” held at the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, El-Tayeb stressed the need to end imminent threats to children.

He said children were nearing “slavery” due to digital development, which he said was controlled by those who have no faith.

El-Tayeb shed light on children facing turmoil, especially those under 18, signalling at indicators of a deep gap between children and their families, both in prospects and expectations.

“I noticed children’s tendency to loneliness, indifference, laziness, inertia, and warning signs of violence. This alerts of psychological and social illnesses lying in wait for our children due to the control of cellphones on them,” he said.

El-Tayeb is set to meet  with the Catholic Church Pope Francis II during his visit.

The conference is attended by prominent religious leaders from around the world, as well as economists, and representatives of organisations working in the field of combating crimes of violence against children.

The first edition of the summit was held in 2017 in the Italian capital, which produced the “Rome Declaration”.

The conference is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and Pope Francis.