Vatican expert: Pope seeks "to change
mindsets" of Catholics
(Vatican Radio) David Willey,
the longtime BBC correspondent in Rome, said in his view Pope Francis
“certainly has set out to change the mindset of people in the Vatican and
Catholics worldwide.” Willey, who's spent more than 40 years reporting on
events in the Vatican, has recently published a book on the Pope entitled “The
Promise of Francis, The Man, The Pope and the Challenge of Change.”
With this Sunday (March 13th)
marking the third anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, what has changed over
the past 3 years and where is the papacy going under his leadership? Susy
Hodges sat down with Willey to learn his take on the man at the helm of the
Catholic Church:
“Continues to surprise us
all”
Pope Francis, the former
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from Argentina, is the first ever Pontiff from Latin
America and his election in March 2013 confounded all the predictions and
pundits. Willey admitted that just like most other people he was definitely “surprised”
by the cardinals’ choice at the conclave. He said the new Pope’s first words to
the world spoken from the balcony of the Vatican Basilica…that “extraordinary
very humble speech” …. was “a foretaste” of his papacy which during the past
three years “has continued to surprise us all.”
Asked about the challenges
facing Pope Francis and the Church at the time of his election, Willey noted it
has been “very interesting to see how he’s tackled” these problems. When it
comes to the reform of the Roman Curia, Willey said one particularly
significant "and bold" speech by the Pope was when he criticized
"careerists" within the Church in an address to members of the
Curia.
Pope Francis is a master of
using colourful metaphors taken from everyday life to illustrate his points and
Willey singled out in this context the Pope’s much-quoted remark about how the
Church should be a “field hospital” tending to the wounded, rather than a place
of power. He also pointed to Pope Francis’ concern with small countries, with
all those on the periphery, highlighted by his choice to make his first trip as
Pope to the small Italian island of Lampedusa which is on the front line for
receiving refugees and migrants making the perilous journey across the sea from
Africa.
“Has set out to change the
mindset”
Some commentators in the
media have described Pope Francis as a revolutionary but does Willey agree with
that description? In his reply, Willey said the Pope “certainly has set
out to change the mindset” of people in the Vatican and indeed Catholics
worldwide. He said he believed one of the Pope’s most "remarkable"
qualities is that despite his position, “he talks like an ordinary person,”
…about his family, his grandmother, his childhood and shows in this way that he
is a “Pope of the people.”
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