The Holy Church of Facebook

I feel like I have been dreaming for a good few hundred years and just woke up to learn that Mark Zuckerberg and his respectable wife just visited Vatican and talked to the Pope about eradicating poverty through providing access to the internet via drones.

They had the appearance of a royal family travelling the world and preaching about fighting world hunger, and while the Pope was true to his gentle and humane image, Facebook CEO wore a black tie and looked starstruck. The imagery was not too bad in itself, but the idea still dazzles me. I can see some connection between the internet and battling poverty, but none whatsoever with the Catholic Church. Not to the extent to which a huge religious icon should endorse another huge icon, this time coming from Silicon Valley, with the aim to support world domination of the latter.Of course, I am using big words, but be advised that they are not too far from the humongous ambitions of the two protagonists.

Furthermore, the Internet in general, and social media, in particular, have little to do with sanctity or religiousness and Mr Zuckerberg is neither a royalty nor a philanthropist, but the CEO of a multi billion worth company.

Then, what is in it for the Vatican? It might be access to Facebook's precious big data, or an image stunt to further elate the popularity of the Pope. Maybe they planned a huge project together or a deal to curate Facebook content so as to protect the already shattered image of the Catholic Church. There is plenty they could have planned together, nevertheless, the Church's interest in putting on this "show" is not obvious at all. The Pope would have been equally praised had he declared " People should cherish real connection and communion with the Church instead of social media superfluous and time consuming connectivity" or "... use communication technologies to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and make a message of hope arrive, especially to those most in need." which he actually declared through his spokesman Greg Burke. So why did the Vatican accept to convey to Facebook owner such a huge endorsement?

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