Seewald on Benedict XVI:
'He has seen the Light of the world
and he reflects this Light'
An interview by Paul Badde
Translated from
.
Nov. 21, 2010
He is the man with whom Pope Benedict XVI spoke about condoms - a scoop by journalist Peter Seewald after six hours of conversation with the Pope, in which no topic was taboo.
Seewald tells another interviewer that he brought four tape recorders with him (including two old-fashioned ones) to record his conversations with the Pope - and that in one session, one of them clicked shut so he lost part of what the Pope was saying...
You spent six hours in conversation with Pope Benedict XVI. it would have been impossible even for the President of the United States to get that time, with the Pope. What do you have that Barack Obama does not? [Not that Obama would be interested! You think???]
I don't know! Fate? Foresight? Perhaps it's our common Bavarian heritage. We speak the same language. It makes it possible to ask about things without being shy, and to have a good discussion on every subject without cynicism.
Of course, it was helpful that when he was Cardinal we had already done two of these interview books, which were not without effect! He is a team player, and we have been a winning team before.
What was it that clinched the deal, that enabled you to get this PR scoop?
I had made various approaches. The occasion for the project was the five-year jubilee of his Pontificate and the forthcoming publication of his second book on Jesus. In the end, the crisis atmosphere that developed after the revelation of more sexual abuses by priests in Europe clinched it. And so, he has expressed himself to me as no Pope has ever done before. It is a novelty in the history of the papacy...
During which he has even said that in exceptional cases, the use of condoms may be acceptable. Did you confine yourself to asking him only about the hot issues? And is there one question that came to you later that you would now like most to have him answer?
I did not leave out any questions that I really considered urgent. But because of the limited time, there were a number of subjects that I could not bring up as I would have wanted to. For instance, the scandal of increasing Christian persecutions worldwide. Or the phenomenon that a secular near-Godless society which has long considered the religion question 'settled', must suddenly confront the question of faith all over because of the spread of Islamic culture in their very midst. It would seem that an exhausted Christianity is no longer capable of dealing with these fundamental questions of existence in a public debate.
How many other questions remain to be asked?
About a thousand!
Were there questions that he did not want to answer?
None. I had presented a concept, but I did not specify the questions, nor did he then reject any of the questions I asked. For him, there are no taboo subjects. He left the spoken words remain as is, and when he reviewed the text for final authorization, he only made a few minor corrections here and there to make his meaning clear.
Which answer most surprised you?
There were many. From the earlier interviews, I already knew he is very precise, and also that he is a very original observer, very well-informed and quite abreast of the times. Add to that his unique formation and the skill to formulate complicated things in simple and easy to grasp terms. I knew to expect from his answers a multiplicity of nuances that one cannot immediately grasp. As in his reflections on the papacy, of ecumenism, questions of sexual morality, or in the area of AIDS prevention. And I was surprised by his answers to questions about the dialog with Islam.
In what way?
He integrates - one learns from him not to be too narrow nor too anxious in thinking about these things. He looks at things almost from God's perspective, in that he knows God is love, and excludes no one.
And I was rather unsettled to hear how seriously be is concerned about the condition of mankind in our day - in the ecological, social, economic and especially spiritual aspects
He asks along with all of us: What have we made of our dream for the planet? And of ourselves? His message is an appeal to the Church and the world, to every individual: It is time for change. Time for a conversion!
"There are so many problems that must be solved, but they will not be resolved if God is not placed back in the center and made visible in this world", he says.
Lately, he has often seemed embattled. [Has he??? I don't recall ever seeing him look embattled'] Did he seem so to you?
To lead a Church with 1.2 million members when you are 83 is no small job. It is hard to grasp how he can deal with his work load. In this sense, it is only natural if he looks tired and fragile. His concern over the Church, the often quite deficient support that he gets from his Church, and the slowness of the bureaucracy can obviously sometimes become a weight on his shoulders.
But he is also able to regenerate himself fast. Like overnight. I do not know any other man who is as efficient, who is so fit and alert, and also so young and modern, as this old man on Peter's Chair.
Were there times during your conversations when he laughed?
Of course. He has a very subtle understated humor, but one can laugh with him. The public idea of him is that he is a fossilized type, some kind of bitter wood, a document eater, or some such. None of that is true. He is the very soul of a Mensch. I have been with him in a car and heard him sing along with the radio. We have always spoken about personal things. Because of course, people want to know what a Pope feels, what he does in his free time, and the like...
How would you describe the difference between Joseph Ratzinger and Benedict XVI, quite apart from the fact that they wear different hats ...
As I said before, first he is older. But when you sit across from him, then you feel right away that in his being, in his style, in his amiability, nothing has changed. Overall, I think, being Pope has brought forth his good qualities better than before, and that as Universal Pastor, he has become even more sensitive, more generous and wiser.
How do you explain that?
Probably because he is closer to God. He has seen the Light of the world and he reflects this light. For all his intellectual stature, he has remained a simple pious man.
Did he ask you any questions?
No, but then I did not give him time to do that. I had to use every second.
Have you eaten together?
Unfortunately, no. But that does not bother me. I was always glad after a session to be able to go somewhere quiet where I could smoke a cigarette and drink a beer.
Is there a question that you wonder why no one has asked you about the Pope?
I wonder above all that the same questions are always asked! Journalists today behave as though they can do any interview about the Catholic Church without any preparation as long as they stick to three topics: priestly celibacy, women priests, and Roman centralism - and when they can sell their rubbish about these topics from the 'reform' agenda, it makes them feel they have done something.
Next year, the Pope will be visiting Germany again. Did you discuss the fact that many Germans feel rather harsh about 'their' Pope?
That wasn't quite the discussion. But this problem is quite close to the Pope's heart. It's obvious to him that Germany is in many ways a fractured nation, afflicted with the proverbial German Angst and despondency. High Church functionaries are in lockstep with the anti-Roman drumbeat even if they ought to know better, and even if they have the clear mandate from the Gospel to go against the current.
But that can also change. For instance we no longer have the dumbest ones, who lay so much on their unspeakable liturgies and also on their contribution to the deformations of the time.
Does the Pope share this hope?
He is not the pastor of a local German church. Globally he does not see the Catholic Church in decline. On the contrary, she has never been as big and as widespread as she is today.
Why do you think he provokes so many Germans, and even many Catholics in general?
Because the Church itself provokes. His positions, those of the Church, are not compatible with a leisure society. And yes, the Gospel itself is not compatible with such a society, and that is why many have forgotten what Catholicism really means. Many think that they can themselves 'build' their own Church, which really means that are becoming more like Protestants. What a joke! The Evangelical churches in Germany have been constantly losing, since 1950, more members than the Catholic Church has.
Do you see that yourself, or does the Pope say so?
Anyone who wants to look can see it. Meanwhile, everyday we must experience anew how the image of this Pope is projected in the media. It has to do with a tendency that one recognizes from previous experience: The Pope is the class enemy who must be fought with whatever means possible. This is the 'new Germany' he will be visiting. That makes one wonder what he would answer to a whole series of other questions.
On her blog, Angela Ambrogetti makes a most pertinent commentary...
Those passages
taken out of context...
Translated from
Nov. 21, 2010
To 'anticipate' or 'preview' a book is not always to inform. It may seem banal, but in the panorama of contemporary journalism, perhaps it is better to think more carefully first [before publishing these 'anticipations'].
The most recent example is Peter Seewald's interview book with Pope Benedict XVI. A book that is not a magisterial text, but which highlights the Pope's theological, human, public and private personality. The Pope speaks, but he does so in his personal capacity. It is an occasion to better understand Joseph Ratzinger.
In short, it is a text to be read at leisure, calmly, to savor and to fit into the long personal story of Pope Benedict. Instead, we now have a jumble of previews that present 'excerpts' or statements that are for the most part presented out of context, though they also demonstrate the obvious.
However, they also tend to make it appear as though the Pope and Peter Seewald had spoken about nothing but condoms and the Pope's resignation! Who has, so far, for instance, cited something the Pope has said about, say, ecumenism?
So now, we have some UN official - who has not read the book at all - applauding a hypothesis that many have wrongly called "a novelty in the Church". But the Church is not what others imagine who know nothing about it.
The Church, as Benedict XVI pointed out in Spain recently, is God's embrace:
"We are, in a way, embraced by God, transformed by his love. The Church is the embrace of God within which men learn to embrace their own brothers, discovering in them the image and likeness of God, which constitutes the most profound truth of man's existence, and which is the origin of true freedom".
Benedict XVI has chosen the most modern and genuine way to communicate: a dialog with a sincere journalist, open, direct, without second thoughts. Can professional communicators do the same?
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/11/2010 06:35]