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Pope Francis Met With Apple CEO Tim Cook

epa05118464 A handout picture released by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano of Pope Francis (R) talks with Apple CEO Tim Cook during a private audience in the Vatican, 22 January 2016. Cook is in Italy to present the creation of Apple's new iOS App Development Center in Naples to give students practical skills and training in developing applications for the hardware and software giant's operating system for mobile devices. EPA/OSSERVATORE ROMANO / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
Osservatore Romano—EPA Pope Francis talks with Apple CEO Tim Cook during a private audience in the Vatican, on Jan. 22, 2016.

The Pope called modern forms of communication "a gift of God"

Pope Francis had a meeting Friday with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Neither party has disclosed what was discussed, but afterward, the Pope spoke about technology and social media, calling modern forms of communicating “a gift of God,” according to Reuters. Pope Francis, 79, delivered the message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Communications.

“Emails, text messages, social networks and chats can also be fully human forms of communication,” he said. “It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal.”

The Pope is admittedly a “disaster” when it comes to technology, but this is his second meeting in a week with a tech industry heavyweight—he sat down with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt last week. Cook—or “Signor Timothy Donald Cook, Amministratore Delegato di Apple”—met with the Pope in Rome, according to the Pontiff’s daily schedule posted to Twitter.

There is no word on whether Pope Francis was able to get the two tech giants to lay down their arms and comes to terms over competing mobile phone platforms.

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