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BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Ultimo Aggiornamento: 23/08/2021 11:16
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03/06/2009 21:29
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Sandro Magister takes due note of the Pope's Saturday encounter with children.


Professor Ratzinger talks to children

Question-and-answer session between Benedict XVI and an audience of tiny listeners.
It was the second time in four years, and it worked again - as a window to the Pope's personality
and communicative ablities.




ROME, June 3, 2009 – He does it every year with the priests of the diocese of Rome, at the beginning of Lent. He does it in the summer with the priests wherever he is on vacation. He does it with groups of young people. He does it with the journalists at his departure on each journey.

The direct question-and-answer, without reading prepared texts, is a method that Papa Ratzinger loves. He used it when he was a professor. He still braves it, although he knows the risks. The latest example of such a risk caused a 'scandal' of sourts, when he said that condoms are ineffective in fighting AIDS. [That's a slight but nonetheless significant misrepresentation of what he said and meant - which was that condoms are not the best nor only way to fight AIDS and may even worsen the problem.]

But until a few days ago, Benedict XVI had tried this method with children only once. The question-and-answer session took place in Saint Peter's Square in October of 2005, the first year of his pontificate. The square was full of children from Rome and Lazio who had made their first communion that year. They were between the ages of 8 and 10.

There were seven questions, and Papa Ratzinger passed the test with flying colors. He grabbed the children's attention, made himself understood, and gave simple but profound answers.

Inexplicably, however, he did not have any such encounters in the following years. Until just a few days ago, when for the second time he met with children and answered their questions.

The encounter took place on the afternoon of Saturday, May 30, the vigil of Pentecost, in the audience hall at the Vatican. The seven thousand children belonged to the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood.

This time there were three questions. They were gathered ahead of time together with others, exactly as is done for with the journalists on the papal journeys. The Pope's staff make the initial selection. But it is Benedict XVI himself who makes the final pick, choosing the questions he wants to answer.

The complete transcript of the question-and-answer reveals the typical traits of the current Pope's personality. Effectiveness in capturing attention. Simplicity of language. Clarity. Deep optimism. Sincerity.

The listener intuits that Benedict XVI doesn't have any hidden meanings. Nor does he insinuate or indulge in doubts. He instills certainties – not his own, but those he himself has received from on high.

Defying the current clichés, Papa Ratzinger is a great communicator. And he is at his best when he talks with children.


[He provides an English translation of the Q&A.
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1338718?eng=y

See Saturday post, 5/30/09, in preceding page for my translation
.]


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 04/06/2009 01:10]
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