Pope Francis grants interview to Italian daily Corriere della sera
(Vatican Radio) Less than two weeks shy of one year on from his election as bishop
of Rome, Pope Francis describes himself as, “A man who laughs, cries, sleeps well
and has friends like everyone else.” It is the self-description the Holy Father offered
to the editor-in-chief of the Italian daily, Corriere della sera, Ferruccio
De Bortoli, in an interview appearing in the paper’s Wednesday, March 5th
edition. Listen:
The Pope’s
wide-ranging conversation with the veteran journalist covers themes from bioethics,
to styles and modes of Church governance, to his friendship with and esteem for his
predecessor, Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI.
Some of the strongest remarks concerned
the role of women in the Church. “It is true that women can and ought to be more present
in the places where the Church’s decisions are made. This, however, I would call a
promotion of a ‘functional’ type. Only, in this way, we do not get very far: We need
to consider that the Church takes the feminine article,” he said, “She is feminine
in her very origins (It. dalle origini).”
Asked whether it might perhaps
be time to take up once again the question of artificial means of birth control, Pope
Francis praised his predecessor, Paul VI, who authored the encyclical Humanae vitae,
saying, “His genius proved prophetic: he had the courage to stand against the majority,
to defend moral discipline, to exercise a ‘brake’ on the culture, to oppose [both]
present and future neo-Malthusianism." The Holy Father went on to explain, “The question
is not that of changing doctrine, but of going into the depths, and ensuring that
pastoral [efforts] take into account people’s situations, and that, which it is possible
for people to do.”