G
gilliam
Guest
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Before he was elected pontiff, Pope Francis had a reputation for not liking to do interviews.
“Really, I don’t give interviews. But I don’t know why. I can’t, that’s just how it is. I find it a bit tiresome, but I’m grateful for your company,” he told the more than 70 journalists from all over the world accompanying him aboard his first papal flight to Brazil for World Youth Day in July 2013.
The pope, who was unafraid of breaking long-held practices, looked like he was ready to end a decades-long tradition of taking questions from reporters on papal flights.
One veteran journalist from Mexico sought to reassure the new pope that even though he might feel he’d been thrown into the lions’ den by coming to the back of the plane to meet the press, “the truth is that we aren’t that ferocious.”
Something eventually happened to change his mind because, six days later, on the return trip back to Rome, Pope Francis opened the floor to journalists, answering every question posed in an 80-minute session.
And ever since then, the pastor who never liked interviews has become the most-interviewed pope in history.wp.me/p5DZKA-ZT
“Really, I don’t give interviews. But I don’t know why. I can’t, that’s just how it is. I find it a bit tiresome, but I’m grateful for your company,” he told the more than 70 journalists from all over the world accompanying him aboard his first papal flight to Brazil for World Youth Day in July 2013.
The pope, who was unafraid of breaking long-held practices, looked like he was ready to end a decades-long tradition of taking questions from reporters on papal flights.
One veteran journalist from Mexico sought to reassure the new pope that even though he might feel he’d been thrown into the lions’ den by coming to the back of the plane to meet the press, “the truth is that we aren’t that ferocious.”
Something eventually happened to change his mind because, six days later, on the return trip back to Rome, Pope Francis opened the floor to journalists, answering every question posed in an 80-minute session.
And ever since then, the pastor who never liked interviews has become the most-interviewed pope in history.wp.me/p5DZKA-ZT