I for one am going to pretty much ignore anything coming out of Rome for the foreseeable future.
No responsible person sits down for an “interview” with a “journalist” where there is no tape recorder or even a note pad.
Honestly I am wondering if the man is mentally ill. Could he really be this far out of his depth? Are the cardinals negligent for having chosen him, or is he suffering some sort of spiritual oppression? We have not seen anything this disturbing since maybe Julius III.
I don’t think the intention was to give an interview. His Holiness wanted to talk to that atheist, Scalfari, informally. A tape recorder would have destroyed the very atmosphere of informality that apparently both parties wanted.
This in in line with this Pope’s personality in general: he doesn’t want a wall around himself, and doesn’t particularly care if people he reaches out to leave records.
So the author’s outrage about Scalfari’s journalistic practices is misplaced. We certainly have “wind blowing” and should expect more unscripted talk from His Holiness. Is that the proper outrage to have? So far I haven’t seen anything in the papal chats that deviated from the Catholic faith.