Vatican City, Apr 19, 2006 / 22:00 pm
As Pope Benedict celebrates a year of pontificate, Italian Catholic writer Vittorio Messori made a thorough depiction of what he considers is the style, thought and “way to proceed”, of the Pontiff, in an interview he gave to Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The balance drafted by Messori, author of “Crossing the threshold of Hope,” conversations with John Paul II, and “Dialogue on faith,” conversations with Cardinal Ratzinger, also includes comparisons between the style of the actual pontiff and his predecessor.
The journalist admitted in the interview, that “to be honest, I found myself saying about Pope Benedict 'Good Lord, move a little bit.' It seemed to me he was doing too little, but that’s not so sure. Benedict XVI is a man who doesn’t like big crowds. He drastically reduced public apparitions and will make three to four trips a year, but he is doing what John Paul II wasn't keen on doing: studying the important dossiers. He needs time for the diagnosis. All he says, he writes it, seated at his work desk. We can clearly recognize his style in “Deus Caritas est.”
On giving his opinion on whether Benedict XVI is a “more accesible” pope, the analyst afirmes that “only in a specific way,” because “if we look at the images of John Paul II, we can see how he reached out to the hands of millions but not having a good look at the faces of his interlocuters. Ratzinger looks in the eyes, always. He stops to talk to each, he wants to know who is standing before him. Wojtyla is a man of Christianity, he wanted the Gospel to be spread to all people. Benedict XVI is a man of interiority, a post-modern intellectual."