Pope Francis to hold rare tech industry meeting with Google’s Eric Schmidt

“Pope Francis once described the internet as a ‘gift from God,'” Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Nellie Bowles, and Danny Yadron report for The Guardian. “But on Friday he is due to meet with someone who may believe the internet has more to do with his own company than divine intervention: Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google.”

“The pope, who more than a billion Catholics believe is God’s representative on Earth, will meet with the powerful Silicon Valley executive and philanthropist for 15 minutes at the Vatican in Rome,” Kirchgaessner, Bowles, and Yadron report. “A source close to the Vatican, who was familiar with the details of the meeting but not authorised to speak on the record, confirmed the brief meeting would take place on Friday.”

“Pope Francis has admitted to not having a computer, but the 79-year-old is clearly not naive when it comes to the power of technology. The internet, he once said, is a ‘gift from God’ because of its ability to offer ‘immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity,'” Kirchgaessner, Bowles, and Yadron report. “‘This is something truly good,’ he said in a seminal speech on technology in 2014, noting the importance of social media in what he has often referred to as the power of the ‘encounter.’ ‘In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all,’ he said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: “Bless me father, for I have sinned…”

Backstabber Eric T. Mole’s going to need a lot longer than 15-minutes.

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