Pope Francis meets with openly gay Apple CEO Tim Cook
Apple CEO Tim Cook has had a sit down meeting with the head of the Catholic church.
The two men – along with their personal teams – met at the Vatican yesterday.
This is the pontiff’s second meeting with technology world leader in a week, after he met with Eric Schmidt – the executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet.
However, despite the details of the meeting being kept under wraps, some are hoping that Cook took the opportunity to address the Pope’s recent attack on same-sex marriage and civil unions.
Addressing members of the Vatican court last week, Pope Francis said: “There can be no confusion between the family God wants and any other type of union.
“The family, founded on indissoluble matrimony that unites and allows procreation, is part of God’s dream and that of his Church for the salvation of humanity,” he added.
His comments are sure to have riled Cook, who recently argued that the fight for LGBT equality is far from over.
“Discrimination doesn’t simply fade. It has to be pushed back, challenged, overcome and then kept at bay.”
Cook spoke after HRC honoured him for using his public platform to fight for LGBT rights across the world.
Since coming out in 2014, Cook has fought against state laws that allow small businesses to refuse service to the LGBT community based on religious grounds.
“I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” Cook said in October 2014.
He took charge of Apple in August 2011; this was shortly before the death of its former CEO, Steve Jobs.
