UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia
Rocco Palmo
While today was long scheduled to bring the traditional release of the Pope’s message for World Communications Day, as he ever tends to do, Francis suddenly gave the news something of a Turbo Boost: a week after granting the first private audience in memory to a leading corporate executive – the Google chief Eric Schmidt – the noontime Holy See briefing announced that the pontiff met this morning with the Apple CEO Tim Cook (above).
Unless Vatican diplomacy’s amazingly been called upon for mediation between the oft-warring Silicon Valley titans, the dots look to be lining up for something very interesting in terms of the church’s digital engagement. Yet even beyond the massive institutional significance of the Roman pontiff receiving the head of the world’s most valuable company in the Vatican – a moment without precedent in itself – given Cook’s 2014 disclosure of his sexuality, today’s encounter appears to be the first time an openly gay person has ever been hosted for a full-tilt private audience in the Papal Apartment.
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