Original Article in german here:

https://katholisches.info/2021/03/01/franziskus-ist-papst-und-biden-ein-praktizierender-katholik-das-interview-von-benedikt-xvi/

TRANSLATION here:

MAINSTREAM GOES IN, MAINSTREAM COMES OUT March 1, 2021 8 For 45 minutes, two editors of Corriere della Sera spoke with Benedict XVI.

(Rome) In today's edition, Corriere della Sera headlines, "There are not two popes." The statement comes from an "interview" with Benedict XVI, whose statements cause incomprehension and bear traits of self-dismantling. Should Benedict XVI really want that? Doubts are expressed. Are they justified?

This is not the first "interview" that the former head of the church has granted to leading media. There were already such in 2015 for the Bild newspaper and in 2019 for the Corriere della Sera. The new interview can be found directly in the daily newspaper, including a large headline on the front page, the interview at the time was for a weekly supplement of the largest Italian daily. It already contained the central message that is also found in the new interview: "There is only one pope," and that pope is Francis. Benedict XVI repeats it today: "There are not two popes. Only one is pope," namely his successor.

The "interview" of which Corriere speaks was written on the eighth anniversary of Benedict XVI's end of office, when he voluntarily retired to Castel Gandolfo on Feb. 28, 2013. What was printed today, however, is not an interview in the proper sense, but a conversation with Benedict XVI in the former Mater Ecclesiae monastery, which Massimo Franco put down on paper as an article with interspersed quotations. The form is reminiscent of Eugenio Scalfari's conversations with Pope Francis.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to doubt the authenticity of the statements reproduced. Massimo Franco is a columnist and editor of the Rome edition of Corriere della Sera. He is one of the best-known Italian journalists. Of importance, also in the specific context, is his transatlantic network as a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and contributor to leading geopolitical journals. The visit to Benedict's retirement home certainly took place. Franco mentions gifts exchanged and the presence of Curia Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict's personal secretary, and Luciano Fontana, editor-in-chief of Corriere. To avoid doubts, Franco writes:

"The sentences come only drop by drop, the voice is a breath that comes and goes. And Monsignor Gänswein repeats and 'translates' in a few places, while Benedict nods in sign of approval."

But it's not just the aforementioned message that stands out, but other parallels to the 2019 Corriere interview. Then, as now, there are no photos of the conversation with Benedict XVI. Such photos are at the top of the list as evidence during interviews and as mementos during meetings with Benedict XVI. There are plenty of them of visitors who take pictures with the former pope. That a journalist of all people, with the intention of publishing a major article, should refrain from doing so seems hardly credible.

Another parallel is that the long article contains very few direct statements by Benedict XVI. They are the reason Franco and Fontana went to the Vatican Gardens. The yield of direct quotes from the encounter, which Franco says lasted 45 minutes, was modest, but it is not without explosive power.

The statements by Benedict XVI. On the anomaly of two popes, Benedict XVI is quoted as saying:

"There are not two popes. Only one is pope."

He also defended his surprise resignation broadside:

"It was a difficult decision. But I made it with a clear conscience, and I think I did well. Some of my 'fanatic' friends are still angry, they didn't want to accept my decision. I think of the conspiracy theories that followed it: some said the Vatileaks scandal was to blame, others spoke of a conspiracy of the gay lobby, still others of the case of the conservative Lefebvrian theologian Richard Williamson. They don't want to believe in a conscious decision. But my conscience is fine."

Fontana and Franco want to know from Benedict what he thinks of Italy's new prime minister, Mario Draghi, who is expected to keep Italy on EU and ECB course:

"Let's hope he manages to solve the crisis."

On Italy's left-wing Catholic President Sergio Mattarella, Benedict XVI said:

"He is a man who is also highly esteemed in Germany."

But he said he knew his predecessor Giorgio Napolitano, a member of the Communist Party until 1991 and whose father already played a role in Freemasonry, better:

"How is he?"

Franco does not forget the Corona narrative: Benedict XVI and also Gänswein and most of the Vatican staff have already been inoculated against Covid-19, the journalist said. Italy and most of Europe would envy the Vatican state for that. But there was no usable quote from Benedict's mouth for this.

Then it's on to international politics. On Pope Francis' upcoming trip to Iraq:

"I believe that it is a very important trip. Unfortunately, it falls at a difficult moment that also makes it a dangerous trip: for security reasons, but also because of Covid. And then there is the unstable Iraqi situation. I will accompany Francis with my prayers."

Franco gives the line on the most important issue internationally at the moment: the acceptance of Joe Biden, the new U.S. president. Relations with the Vatican are destined to get better now that Biden, and not Donald Trump, is in the White House, he said. Benedict XVI, however, has expressed misgivings about Biden on a religious level, he said. "He is giving voice," Franco said, "to the distrust and rejection of much of the U.S. episcopate toward Biden and his party, who are considered too 'liberal.'" Benedict XVI himself is quoted as saying:

"It's true, he is Catholic and practicing. And personally he is against abortion. But as president, he tends to show himself in continuity with the Democratic Party line... And on gender policy, we haven't yet understood exactly what his position is."

There are only a few statements that Franco and Fontana take away from their 45 minutes with Benedict XVI. They cover only three topics: support for Pope Francis, an implicit "blessing" for Joe Biden and a defense of the abdication of office that remains controversial to this day.

The yield is modest and follows exactly the official line. One could also conclude: where the mainstream goes in, the mainstream seems to come out. Benedict XVI knows this and agreed to the meeting.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Corriere della Sera (Screenshot)