Posted on 03/31/2015 4:12:13 AM PDT by marshmallow
In Interview with La Nacion's Elisabetta Pique, Prefect of the Pontifical Household Says Benedict XVI "Impressed" By Successor
Archbishop Georg Gänswein says Pope Benedict “follows his successor with great attention and sympathy.” The prefect of the Pontifical Household gave an interview to La Nacion's Elisabetta Piqué, which was published on March 21st.
The German prelate, who serves as personal secretary to both Pontiffs, said that in a number of ways he and Benedict have been “impressed” by Pope Francis, both as a human being and as a spiritual leader.
While acknowledging that the first Jesuit Pope to hail from the Americas is ‘full of surprises,’ Archbishop Gänswein says Benedict admires his strong work ethic and prayer life.
“He works for two, and is 78 years old,” Archbishop Gänswein said, also noting how attentive Francis is to the people he encounters every day, giving much personal attention.
Benedict, he confirmed, is “impressed by Francis’ particular gift for relating with people.”
Noting how Francis rises very early to meditate and prepare for Mass, he said that the Pope leads a contemplative life, where “the coherence between his very active life and the time he dedicates to prayer is impressive.”
“The Ignatian spirituality," he went on to say, "is really incarnate in him.”
When discussing how the words ‘encounter’ and ‘mercy’ have truly become key words of the pontificate and extend to the greatest and the least, Gänswein said: “This is something that I admire and that inspires me.”
The 58-year-old German prelate did admit, however, he finds how much “unpredictability in his action, in the changes, in the surprises at the last moment that are never lacking” to be “a little difficult!"
He noted that Pope Francis “jokes about this when he speaks about protocol and ‘the bureaucracy’ of the Vatican... but, joking.....
(Excerpt) Read more at zenit.org ...
The fake vomit, the whoopee cushions, the exploding cigars ...
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