Computer history was made last week when Pope Francis helped write a line of code for a United Nations development app.

At an event organised by the Scholas Occurrentes foundation in Vatican City, the pontiff joined three young women to write the code. As well as becoming the first pope to code, he called on students around the world to learn computer science for world peace.

The event marked the launched of the ‘Programming for Peace’ project, which aims to introduce students from disadvantaged communities to computer science and to help use their tech talent for “ethical” purposes.

The three young women, Matilde Fabrega Vivanco from Chile; Nicole Rodriguez from New York; and Liuren Yin from China, are learning computer science in school. Vivanco helped the pontiff in adding the last line of code to the app.

The app the trio wrote aims to show how technology can be used to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The goals are the UN’s blueprint to “achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” – which address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate and justice. A key focus of the scheme is to improve education and innovation around the world.

A commemorative plaque shown on the app screen was blessed by Pope Francis, which read: “Computer science empowers young people to create peace in their communities. Everyone should learn how to harness technology, to use their creative power for peace.”

As well as writing code, the pontiff held video conferences with young people from around the world and spoke to children who had participated in a number of technology programmes promoted by Scholas.

Hadi Partovi, co-founder of Code.org, was present at the launch of the Programming for Peace project, live-tweeting the events as they unfolded.

During the event, Partovi commented: “In the 21st century, computer science is a fundamental subject that all students should learn. Schools should teach computer science to prepare students for the future, empower children with creativity and teach how to harness technology and creativity.”

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