Pope Benedict: From the viewpoint of a "Vaticanista"

(Vatican Radio) A seasoned "Vaticanista" (journalist covering the Vatican), John Thavis spent three decades covering the Vatican and the Popes for the Catholic News Service. He’s just written a book called “The Vatican Diaries, A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Roman Catholic Church." He spoke to Vatican Radio's Susy Hodges.

Listen to the extended interview with John Thavis:

Asked what for him are some of the highlights of Pope Benedict's pontificate, Thavis praises his "simple yet profound" teaching and his remarkable mind and memory, especially his ability "to process things very quickly." He said sometimes when the Pope was answering questions put to him by journalists, "he looked like he's taking dictation from God" because of the speed of his replies.

Thavis says one of Benedict's most important overseas visits was the one he made to Turkey just weeks after the controversy following his speech about Islam at Regensburg in Germany. During this trip, he singled out the pope's "eloquent gesture of praying in a mosque" as well as his speeches and even another small gesture that was greeted "by the biggest cheer" when "he drank the tea" offered by his Turkish hosts.

When it comes to the challenges facing whoever is chosen to be the next Pope, Thavis says it will be a daunting and difficult task. "The challenges, he says, "are plenty" but "the biggest challenge today is that people have stopped thinking about God ...Catholics are not evangelising." He goes on to say that part of that challenge will be to find a way to communicate the Gospel message "without alienating people ... especially young people who are not that receptive to some of the Church's teaching."

Asked what prompted him to write his book, Thavis said he wanted to shed more light on the inner workings of the Vatican because in his view "people have a very misguided notion of what the Vatican is." I wanted, he continued, to "get behind the caricature" because the Vatican "is not impersonal, it's not a machine."