Pope Francis has face-to-face meeting with Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg

Pope Francis has face-to-face meeting with Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg

By Allan Turner Updated 2:42 pm, Monday, August 29, 2016

Pope Francis meets Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, second from left, and his wife Priscilla Chan, at the Santa Marta residence, the guest house in Vatican City where the pope lives, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke says a topic of discussion at Monday’s meeting was “how to use communication technologies to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and make a message of hope arrive, especially to those most in need.’’ (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Photo: AP / L'Osservatore Romano

Photo: AP
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Pope Francis meets Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, second from left, and his wife Priscilla Chan, at the Santa Marta residence, the guest house in Vatican City where the pope lives, Monday, Aug. 29, ... more

Pope Francis had a face-to-face meeting Monday with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chen, about "how to use communications technology to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter and to communicate a message of hope, especially to the most disadvantaged," the Vatican reported.

Francis has called the Internet "something truly good, a gift from God," and, like his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, has a Twitter account. The pope's minions post in multiple languages on nine accounts to 30 million followers.

But Archbishop Claudio Celli, the Vatican's social communications chief, said in 2014 that negative Twitter comments had created a "crisis," and worried that a papal presence on Facebook would only highlight such negativity.

In March, Francis debuted on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, but he does not hold a Facebook account.

Asserting that Francis is "aggressively anti-technology and anti-modern in the sense that he actively warns against the belief that technological tools can be used to redeem or fix the world," The Atlantic Monday offered analysis of why the meeting occurred and what it may achieve.

Said The Atlantic: "It's difficult to imagine two more different world leaders hanging out together. Zuckerberg was raised in a Jewish home, identifies as an atheist, and professes a profound respect for Buddhism. His social-media company claims to have a mission oriented toward creating social good, but in practice, it often leverages its immense influence over the way people use the internet for profit and political power. By his own description, the Facebook founder is interested in saving the world through technology: its use, its development, its spread."

For his part, Zuckerberg conveyed the following -- on Facebook: