Pope Francis' Christmas interview with La Stampa

The Pope’s Christmas interview with the Italian daily La Stampa shows, if nothing else, that Francis’s habit of allowing himself to be interrogated by the media is going to be a feature of his papacy, setting a precedent which will be hard for his successors to avoid - Austen Ivereigh writes. For the record, this is the fifth interview since July, following the Brazilian TV Globo and the papal plane back from Rio in that month, and the Spadaro (Jesuit publications) and the Scalfari (La Repubblica) interviews in September and October.

In the first part of the interview the Pope speaks in detail of the meaning of Christmas, the mystery of suffering of children and how to feed the hungry. Then he responds, in typically broad fashion, to a series of questions: the US critics who accuse him of Marxism, ecumenical relations with the Orthodox and Christian unity in general, the sacraments, the synod on the family, the council of cardinals and the February consistory, curial reform, the possibility of women cardinals, the clean-up of the Vatican Bank and his surprise at being elected.

To read Austen's summary -(the translation is his) - see:

http://cvcomment.org/2013/12/15/francis-la-stampa-interview-summary-highlights/

Source: Catholic Voices