Vatican reporter John Thavis releases his new book "The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church", which talks about the politics involved in picking a new Pope.
Pope Benedict XVI became the first Pope to resign from the Vatican in 700 years. The Pope revealed to 100,000 spectators gathered at St. Peter's Square Wednesday during his final address that during his papacy, he has witnessed both moments of joy and difficulties. Following his resignation, many controversies pertaining to the Vatican like child sex abuse, mismanagement at the Vatican bank and the leaking of secret church documents have been brought out in the open.
Amid this, Vatican reporter John Thavis has released his new book "The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church". According to the author, this book is a collection of accounts of doctrinal disputes, power struggles and personal scandals.
Talking to Fresh Air's Dave Davies, the author reveals his thoughts on the Pope's resignation, the choosing of a new Pope and the challenges he faced while reporting about the papacy.
On why Benedict resigned, according to him
"Benedict of course is very enigmatic. ... He'll lay out a phrase like ... 'divisions that have disfigured the church' and more or less allow people to interpret it at will. I think he was referring to some of these power struggles that have been evident in recent years, and I think he was sending a signal that the next pope should come in and take care of this, at least address the problem. As for his motives, unfortunately for Pope Benedict, it's his history of being second-guessed on his motives. I think probably we can take it at face value that he felt he simply did not have the energy to carry out the role of pope in the modern age. ... There are many frustrations in Benedict's career as pope that he probably feels quite deeply because, I think, he's a sensitive man. He feels the hurt deeply when someone betrays him, and he feels the hurt deeply when he's criticized."
On what the cardinals will be looking for when they choose the next pope
"The cardinals are all pretty conservative ... and you're not going to find too many cardinals in that group who are ready to stake out brand new ground for the church or new positions or radical changes. ... I'm sure one of those priorities will be some kind of closer management of the Roman curia, and that has led to the idea that the cardinals will be looking for a CEO type. ... I think the cardinals will also be looking for someone who is a great communicator. They need someone not necessarily who can speak eight languages like Benedict and John Paul II, but someone who can go onto that balcony and make an impression in front of the world's media and in front of the world's populations. They need someone who has a stage presence and someone who feels at home among crowds of people. Pope Benedict did not. We all know that, and Catholics respected that. He was a different kind of figure than John Paul II, but I think it handicapped Benedict in the sense that he really was unable to reach large groups of people who might have been interested in what he was saying."
On the challenges of covering a papal conclave as a reporter
"Cardinals are talking now. They're talking in generalities, of course. They're not naming names, and that's to be expected, I guess. Once they start meeting - which is probably going to be next week - they're going to be saying even less, and in a way it's a shame, because the conversations they're having are really extremely important about the future of the church, and the Catholic world is essentially shut out. Now, we did hear today from the Vatican spokesman, who hinted that reporters might actually be briefed on the content on some of these meetings, which would be a welcome change."
On communication within the Vatican
"I wasn't reporting too long at the Vatican before I realized that, when I would go to interview someone at a Vatican office, that after I was through with my questions they always had questions for me, and many of [the questions] concerned, 'What is another Vatican department doing?' And I soon realized that there really is little or no cross-communication inside the Vatican. It may seem amazing to outsiders, but the pope, for example, doesn't hold Cabinet meetings. He doesn't convene his top managers once a week or once a month or maybe even once a year and sit them down and say, 'We've got to be on the same page. What are the projects you're working on? Here's what I want to do. Let's makes sure we get our signals straight.' This generally does not happen, and probably a lot of people feel it's time that it does happen."