Mark Zuckerberg Meets with Pope, Prime Minister Renzi in Italy
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. When six scientists, are back in the real world after spending a year in isolation. And the sky is the limit for drone companies in the United States, cleared for commercial use. Before we get to those stories, this is CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first. Suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has testified on her impeachment trial in Brazil's Senate. She's accused of manipulating the government budget ahead of her 2014 reelection. The former president denies wrongdoing and said she'll fight for democracy and truth. A final Senate vote is expected on Tuesday. Several French mayors are refusing to drop the city's ban on burkinis even after France's higher court has struck down the bans. The former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is now running for reelection next year, says the country needs a new law on swim suits.</s>NICOLAS SARKOZY, FORMER FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): I call today for a law because we can't leave mayors facing a situation on their own. A law which would ban the Islamic swim suit or burkini. I'm not sure how to call it. A law which would specifically target the wearing of burkinis on beaches and swimming pools. Because they're women. What will be the next step, what will we be asked for, different access hours?</s>QUEST: A man suspected of being China's Jack the Ripper is now in custody. They say the 52-year-old suspect confess to raping and murdering 11 people over a 15-year people. They say he targeted young women dressed in red before killing them. Comedy legend Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83. He shot to fame after the string of hits collaborating with Mel Brooks in the 1970s and 80s. The statesman of Silicon Valley. That's the role Mark Zuckerberg seems to be carving out for himself. The Facebook chief executive is currently touring Italy, meeting separately with the Prime Minister Renzi and Pope Francis. The Vatican said the Pontiff and the programmer spoke about how to use communications technology to alleviate poverty and deliver messages of hope. Now, Pope Francis, a man who is quite familiar with technology in many ways, he's using technologies in a way that his predecessors could not have imagined. When the pope joined Instagram in March, Zuckerberg was quick to write a post welcoming him. Look, "Welcome to Instagram, Pope Francis. No matter what faith you practice, we can all be inspired..." you get the idea. The Pope praying on Instagram. Now while Zuckerberg might have made a new friend today at the Vatican, he can't add him as a friend on his own website. The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics isn't amongst the 1.7 billion people who use Facebook, or at least not yet. When Zuckerberg posted a photo of their meeting today, he wrote, "We told him how much we admire his message of mercy and tenderness and how he's found new ways to communicate with people of every faith around the world." Without an account, Zuckerberg, "Sorry, your holiness," he couldn't tag him in the comment. Samuel Burke is in London for us tonight. Samuel, look, there were two things here. We can talk about the Pope in just a second. But it's really about Zuckerberg. What is Zuckerberg up to when he does all these things like going to see the Pope, giving him a drone. Trying to play the elder statesman or the younger statesman of Silicon Valley?</s>SAMUEL BURKE, CNNMONEY BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He is reshaping the role of the CEO. I was thinking back to when I was growing up. I didn't know who the CEO of General Electric or Ford was. But now so many people growing up know who Steve Jobs was, who Tim Cook is, who Mark Zuckerberg is. But some of the cynics out there, Richard, thought maybe he's trying to get in Europe's good books. Remember, Apple, Google, Amazon, are all facing very tough situations with the tech community here in the European Union. And some people think it might just be good for Facebook to be on the good side of the European Union if you want to look at it that way.</s>QUEST: But I can arguably say, I mean, I don't wish to be disrespectful to Mr. Zuckerberg, but who elected him to anything? He came up with a good idea and a couple of billion people are using it. But that's not the same thing as having great thoughts on public policy or indeed having regular press conferences which you have to defend your position.</s>BURKE: Well, I thin just as much as he'd like to be seen with all these leaders from the Pope to the Prime Minister, I think they want to be seen with him as well. The Prime Minister of Italy was talking to him about technology and jobs created by technology and given the youth unemployment that we see in Italy, I think it certainly doesn't hurt the prime minister to try and encourage those jobs and see what can be created there. And on the other hand, this is part of Mark Zuckerberg. It's not just in Italy. I remember following the president of China around Seattle and then Mark Zuckerberg shows up. He wants to have this type of role where he's seen not just a CEO but also the community leader.</s>QUEST: Right, but if you take, for example, Bill Gates, and I covered -- I'm a year or two older than you -- I covered Bill Gates' transition from Microsoft to philanthropist to elder statesman to world leader in that sense. He did enmesh himself in public policy issues and would talk controversially about them in the same way that Warren Buffet does so. Is Zuckerberg prepared to break eggs to make the omelet?</s>BURKE: And I think he's actually picked up a page from Bill Gates' book. Bill Gates has influenced him to already donate all of his money, he says he'll donate at some point. But I think he's willing to push that political edge in the way that Bill Gates is as well. Remember back at the Facebook developers conference in April, Richard, he came out very clearly and took a swipe at Donald Trump. He said, I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others. To your point, I think he's willing to take some political risks here as he pushes the envelope just a tad.</s>QUEST: All right, Samuel Burke who is in London and staying up late for us tonight. We thank you for that, Samuel, good to see you. As we continue, hark, what is that noise I hear? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? What is that noise?