Aug 31, 2007 / 13:42 pm
Commenting on the upcoming visit to Austria by Pope Benedict XVI, the archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said he expected to hear strong and forceful statements from the Pontiff about the reality of Europe and Austria’s responsibility in the region.
“What he has to tell us will be captivating. They won’t be empty words about unimportant matters,” the cardinal told the magazine News. He said that at Hofburg in Vienna, the Pope would surely remind the country of “its place and responsibility in Europe.”
He noted that as a cardinal, Pope Benedict “was never afraid to be precise and sharp in his diagnosis, in the same way as a doctor.” The Pope is not “bombastic” in his manner of speaking, he went on, but rather he speaks “with clear precision and with the dedication of a doctor who really wants to help and point out the path to a cure.”
Cardinal Schönborn pointed out that the Holy Father has the “uncommon gift of being able to speak with both the emotions and with reason,” expressing the “rational together with the existential dimension of life enlightened by the faith.” “This has always been the fascination of Pope Ratzinger, who captivated hundreds of students who attended his classes at Tübingen and Ratisbona.”