Pope Francis and Mark Zuckerberg meet in Vatican

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, this morning had a private audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Mr Zuckerberg, who was accompanied by his wife, Priscilla Chan, talked to the Pope about the role of new technologies in combating poverty. After the meeting, the Vatican issued a statement, saying simply:

“They (the Pope and Mr Zuckerberg) spoke of how communication technologies might be used to combat poverty, to encourage a culture of dialogue and to send a message of hope, especially to the needy...”

The Vatican issued no further details of the meeting but a series of photographs showed the Pope conversing with Mr Zuckerberg and his wife, with the Vatican’s senior spokesman, Greg Burke, in the role of interpreter.

Earlier, Mr Zuckerberg had started his day with a jog past the Colosseum, a jog which of course he posted on Facebook, with this comment:

“It’s great to be back in Rome! We started the day with a run past the Circus Maximus and House of Augustus up to the Colosseum. It’s pretty amazing to run on roads in the city that helped invent them.”

Mr Zuckerberg, who is due to meet Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi later today, has been in Italy since last Wednesday, the day of the earthquake which has claimed 291 lives.

In a Facebook post, he spoke of the “difficult time for people who have lost homes or loved ones”, adding that his thoughts were with “everyone who was affected by the disaster”.

He added: “Rome holds a special place in my heart. I studied Latin and classical history for many years. I like visiting the homes of my favourite historical figures, like Augustus Caesar who created the Pax Romana, 200 years of world peace. I love Rome so much that Priscilla and I even went there for our honeymoon when we got married!”

Mr Zuckerberg’s visit to the Pope comes after those earlier this year of Google chief executive Eric Schmid and of Apple boss Tim Cook.