Suppose you were offered an opportunity to interview Pope Benedict XVI for an hour a day for a series of days. What would you ask him? What format would you like the meeting to have?
This is the first opportunity, of a total of three, that Peter Seewald has had to do this. By now, I have listened to all of the interviews. The second interview is: Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs Of The Times , and God and the World: A Conversation With Peter Seewald being the third. I was very impressed by these. I was interested initially and primarily in this because of the questions that are asked (the topics are listed above in the Product Description). They are probably ones that we all would like answers for. I was very curious. I wanted to hear how Pope Benedict would answer them.
What makes it more interesting, Seewald does not supply the questions ahead of time. He asks. The pope responds. This gives us the chance to hear the Holy Father speak his mind unrehearsed. That's also the way the Pope wants it. It is here that we understand his grasp of the Church and its teachings, mission and history, as well as its problems, shortcomings, difficulties and failures. He hides from nothing. In fact, it is surprising how frank he is in his responses. It is almost as if he sympathizes with Seewald's looking for answers. He gives the Church a certain humanness that is very attractive, something that many are looking for at the parish level.
One of the strongest impressions that he has left in my mind as Pope is that he describes his role, not as you might expect--the world leader of a billion Catholics--but as someone who is to bear witness to Christ. This is exactly what he does in this interview, and does so well. He does not pontificate. Pope Benedict is certainly not a light-weight. His wisdom and understanding of matters is such that he can break things down to people at all levels, including children. I was there witnessing this at World Youth Day in Cologne.
I first read this as an audiobook, which I think added to the satisfaction of it. It's not the Pope's voice, but you can imagine! As is the case with many books that I really like, I go back and buy either the hardcover or paperback edition. Doing that with a book like this allows me to dive into the text to draw whatever more I can from something like this interview I have listened to.
A great contribution to the Church and to people of all faiths. I believe that this can help greatly in clearing up many misunderstandings people may have.
A great read! A page-turner!
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