Since his Papal inauguration in March 2013, Pope Francis has often been portrayed as the more ‘liberal’ of popes, in comparison to his predecessors. He’s said that women who have abortions and wish to 'seek forgiveness' should be pardoned, has addressed climate change and has been somewhat lenient towards atheists and agnostics. That said, while visiting America last year he meet with Kim Davis (the Kentucky country clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay coups although it’s a legal right) so he's definitely got some way to go before his views catch up with the fact that it's 2016.
Anyway, on Sunday he went a little further in trying to prove just how modern he is, meeing with a group of 12 prominent YouTubers, including Louise Pentland (aka Sprinkle of Glitter), Hayla Ghazal who has recently been appointed a United Nations young ambassador and Dulce Candy. The aim was to discuss how they could use their influence to help young people in positive ways and they discussed the issues of migration, extremism and identity.
According to the Guardian he was particularly positive about Louise's YouTube channel, telling her, ‘I am glad that you carry out the type of work you said, following the line of beauty, it’s a great thing. To preach beauty and show beauty helps neutralise aggression.’
Speaking to the whole group he said: ‘You can create a virtual identity; you belong to this circle at least virtually. From that you can start taking a path of optimism and hope.’ Apparently he also ‘dodged’ a question about whether Diego Maradona’s hand ball in the 1986 World Cup was an act of divine intervention.
Afterwards, the Pope held an event honouring Scholas Occurrentes – a foundation which, according to its website, ‘connects technology with arts and sports in order to promote social integration and the culture of encounter for peace’. George and Amal Clooney and Salm Hayek were amongst the guests.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.