Cult leader meets the Pope: Apple CEO chats to Francis

Vatican City sovereign still not keen on seeing cellphones in the basilica

It was only a matter of time before the maker of divine products met the maker's representative on Earth. And so it came to pass yesterday that the Pope granted a special audience to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, spent time with the Apple overlord earlier this week.

The press office of the Vatican confirmed the meeting took place on 3 October but did not say how much time the the two spent together or what was discussed.

No doubt Cook offered words of comfort to Pope Francis after the recent two and a half years of turmoil that included the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and Samsung sitting at the top of the global smartphone market.

We imagine Pope Francis used those precious moments to learn from Apple's big man upstairs about how to be more patient, having frequently lost his temper with phones in the past.

When addressing a general audience in St Peter's Square in Vatican City in 2017, the Pope said the use of cellphones during Mass was a "very ugly thing."

"At some point, the priest during Mass says, 'Lift up your heart,'" the pontiff said. "He does not say, 'Lift up your cellphones to take pictures'."

"It makes me very sad when I celebrate Mass here in the piazza or in the basilica and I see so many cellphones held up."

This wasn't aimed solely at sinners in the congregation but to "some priests and bishops" that had their head down during proceedings, possibly trying to get to the next level of Angry Birds.

"Please, the Mass is not a show. It's a meeting with the passion and the resurrection of our Lord," said Pope Francis.

On phones used in the home, the pontiff said in 2017: “When there's no dialogue at home, when we're at the table and instead of talking everyone is on their phone… It's the start of the war, because there is no dialogue.”

In 2019, the 85-year-old urged youngsters to "free yourself from the addiction to mobile phones. When you become a slave to your mobile phone, you lose your freedom."

No doubt such bigoted views will have been addressed following yesterday's meeting.

Apple declined to comment. ®