The Pope opens up:
Some excerpts from
the much-awaited book
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from
Nov. 20, 2010
"Are you afraid of an assassination attempt?" - "NO".
Benedict XVI's response is both dry and quite calm, to the question from journalist Peter Seewald in the book
Light of the world - the first interview-book with a Pope resulting from six hours of a conversation during which the Pope never asked to screen the questions.
The book, published in Italian by the Vatican publishing house, goes on sale in ten languages on November 24.
Yesterday, a German website published some excerpts from the chapter entitled 'Habemus papam', in which Seewald - who has previously published two famous interview books with Cardinal Ratzinger,
Salt of the earth and
God and the world - asks Benedict XVI how he views his papal mission.
That mission to which he was called at the age of 78, after a lightning-fast Conclave, to succeed John Paul II. Recalling that Cardinal Ratzinger had been "beside John Paul II for 23 years" and that "he came to know the Roman Curia as no one does", Seewald asks the Pope how long it took him to realize the weight of his new universal mission.
The Pope answers: "One realizes the enormity of this task very early - as one knows when one becomes a chaplain, a parish priest or a professor, that one has a great responsibility, one can well imagine how great is the burden on the shoulders of someone who has responsibility for the entire Church. Therefore, one is naturally more aware that the task cannot be done alone. It must be done, on the one hand, with the help of God, and on the other, with a great deal of collaboration".
Vatican II, Benedict XVI points out, "taught us that collegiality is constitutive of the structure of the Church ", and therefore, the Pope is not "someone who can act like an absolute monarch, who takes all decisions in solitude and does everything by himself".
In another question, Seewald cites the advice of St. Bernard of Clairvaux to Pope Eugene III, asking him to be vigilant over what takes place in the papal court, and above all, to be attentive to the quantity of tasks to be done.
Papa Ratzinger answers that St. Bernard's
De consideratione is "naturally, obligatory reading for every Pope". He refers in particular to one of the saint's warnings to his disciple who had become Pope: "Never forget that you are not the successor of Emperor Constantine but the successor to a fisherman".
The Pope adds that "one does not need to lose himself in activism". Seewald follows up by noting, "One has the impression that you work without interruption, without giving yourself a pause..."
The Pope says simply "No", going on to say that an important part - indeed, a decisive one - of his activity is "reflection, reading Sacred Scripture" and meditating on what Scripture says to us today. One cannot work simply to reduce the pile of papers on one's desk, he adds.
Seewald cites what Paul VI wrote on the night he was elected Pope: "I am in the pontifical apartment. A profound impression of unease and confidence at the same time... It is nighttime - prayer and silence. No, not silence - the world observes me, assails me. I must learn to love the world truly. The Church as it is. The world as it is". He asks Benedict XVI: "Like Paul VI, do you have a fear of facing the masses" of the faithful?
Benedict XVI reformulates the question, as if asking himself: "Is it right that the Pope should present himself to the masses and make himself seen as if he were a star celebrity?"
His answer is simple and immediate: the faithful "have a great desire to see the Pope", not so much for contact with his person, "but to be in contact with his ministry, with 'a representative of the sacred'", with the Vicar of Christ.
"In this sense, one should accept it without ever considering the exultation of the crowds as a compliment to his own person".
The interviewer then asks him if he ever feels afraid of an assassination attempt," and he says "No".
Then the discussion turns to the functions of the Church - a great global organization which, the Pope underscores, must never be thought of as a 'production enterprise'.
"We are not a business that seeks profits - we are the Church. This means that we are a community of human beings based in the faith. Our task is not to produce any product or to be a successful distributor of goods. Our task is to bear witness to the faith, to announce it".
The Church, he continues, has survived beyond cultures, nations, and eras, and "exists because it is united with Christ".
Papa Ratzinger, who elsewhere says he has never once thought of resigning as Pope, also says that in some way, he has regrets about the Regensburg lecture which, he says, he meant to be academic, and instead came to be seen as anti-Islam because of one quotation that was instrumentalized to that end.
He does not hesitate to speak of some 'errors' that have been committted in the first five years of his Pontificate, just as he admitted an error in the Williamson case, when he wrote to the bishops of the world.
He adds that further errors are 'probable' down the road "because one tends to be less careful than one is initially".
Seewald asks the Pope if he does not feel imprisoned in the Vatican and if it is true that he has secretly 'escaped' a few times.
"I don't do that," the Pope replies. "But I really miss the fact that I can no longer take a walk, visit friends or simply stay at home as I could do quite simply when I lived in Pentling. To go into the city with my brother, to a restaurant or to visit some event - I truly miss that. But the older one gets, the less you feel like doing things, and this makes it easier to bear with what you're missing."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/11/2010 14:53]