Posted on 04/27/2005 9:01:55 PM PDT by Antioch
ROME (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI was elected, Vatican watchers thought they knew the German theologian inside and out.
After all, he brought with him a 24-year-long paper trail as head of the Vatican's doctrinal congregation, served as one of Pope John Paul II's closest advisers and wrote more than 60 books.
But since his April 19 election, tidbits have begun trickling out from those who came to know Pope Benedict the man, as opposed to the theologian.
"I like him more than Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) -- maybe that's because I knew him," said Carla, who preferred not to give her last name, saying she had been inundated with requests from reporters hungry for details.
As co-owner of a fruit and vegetable shop in Borgo Pio, the tiny Rome neighborhood just east of the Vatican where then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger lived before moving to the Apostolic Palace, Carla saw the future pope pass by nearly every day on his afternoon walk.
"This pope is more intelligent, where the other was more instinctive; he drew forth passion. This one is more rational -- but he is delightful. The fact that he's timid endeared him to all of us," she said as she trimmed endive and served bananas to a customer.
Angelo Mosca runs an electrical supply shop in the "Borgo," the shorthand that longtime residents use to refer to the area, filled with apartment buildings dating back to the 17th century and small, family-run stores, cafes and restaurants.
"Cardinal Ratzinger used to come to buy light bulbs and batteries, or ask for a minor repair, and I went to his house many times to fix something or other," said Mosca. "He is an exceptional person, with an indescribable humility."
About five years ago Mosca, on one of his repair visits to the then-cardinal's fourth-floor apartment, brought along some documentation regarding miracles by a monk who worked with Padre Pio da Pietralcina.
"He listened to me with the greatest kindness. The professor was listening to his student as if the student was the professor," said Mosca.
Walter Colantoni, an optician a block away from Pope Benedict's old apartment, filled then-Cardinal Ratzinger's first eyeglass prescription in 1988.
"He has two pairs, one small and one larger, both for reading," said Colantoni, who greeted the cardinal with a wave every afternoon as he strolled down the street.
"He's a simple, cordial person -- as is being revealed now. Before, people only knew him through his writings and thought he was severe, but he's not. He's humble, without any pretext. We will miss him because he was a constant presence in the neighborhood," he said.
After the election, as people sought to uncover the man behind the doctrine, Pope Benedict's relationship with cats seemed to become as important as his relationship with cardinals.
Story after story recounted his love of felines, some implying he had a veritable menagerie at home.
On Vatican Radio, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa, who worked under Pope Benedict at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, portrayed the new pontiff as something of a Dr. Doolittle.
"I tried to understand the language he used with cats, who were always enchanted when they met him. I thought maybe it was a Bavarian dialect, but I don't know," Cardinal Bertone said.
Ingrid Stampa, the pope's housekeeper for 14 years, finally spoke out to deny that he owned a cat. Instead, Pope Benedict apparently fed strays that lurked around his building, and according to his brother Georg's housekeeper in Germany, the two possess a collection of cat plates there.
Even details about Pope Benedict's daily sustenance have emerged, focusing on his preference for Austrian and German food, like strudel and sausages.
Roberto Proscio, who used to work at a Rome restaurant specializing in Tyrolean cuisine, told the Italian news agency ANSA that the future pope always ordered a Viennese soup and drank orange soda when he came for dinner. When Cardinal Ratzinger visited Proscio in his new restaurant outside the city, he tried pasta and beef Wellington, though the restaurateur sent out a Bavarian cream for dessert in deference to the German prelate's culinary leanings.
The pope is not a sportsman like Pope John Paul, who played soccer, skied and hiked. But he rooted for Bayern-Munich, the hometown soccer team during his 1977-1982 tenure as head of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
In his Vatican Radio interview, Cardinal Bertone said Pope Benedict later befriended the team's Italian coach and gave him signed copies of some of his books.
For years, Mosca and his staff predicted Cardinal Ratzinger would one day be elected pope.
"I used to joke with him, 'Now I'll give you discounts, and then when you're pope I'll come knock on your door," he said.
Yeah, I've been trying to learn Feline for years, but it appears that this Pope is not only fluent, he's an obvious expert in the language.
I wonder if we can get him to give us some pointers on how to speak to cats?
hahahahahaha! That kitty is SO CUTE! Thanks for posting it.
One Cardinal on hearing then Cardinal Ratzinger talk to cats said he wondered at the time if if wasn't some kind of Bavarian dialect! LOL!
You know, the Vatican could raise a ton of money by publishing "Pope Benedict Explains How to Talk to Cats." LOL!
Not only that, but it would boost the image of the Church... hm. Someone email the Pope with the idea and see what happens.
I inherited her from my daughter, whose new husband is allergic. She is a loving cat who follows me like a dog.
She is VERY fat, even though I feed her nothing extra. I guess it is just in her nature.
Agnes Heindl has been Georg Ratzinger's housekeeper for 10 years, and she's come to know the new pope well. She said she often drove then-Cardinal Ratzinger to his house after the brothers had shared Sunday dinner.
"Oh, he could just talk about anything, really," she said. "He liked to talk about friends and how people he knew were doing. He's a very pleasant man to have a conversation with."She clutched 16 Benedict roses, white, as she talked. "Maybe if I can't get the flowers to him, someone will take a picture of them, and he'll see that we're thinking of him," she said.
She spoke with him again this week. He called on Wednesday morning, after getting busy signals at his brother's house Tuesday night. When she answered, a well-known voice said: "Can I please speak to my brother."
"The Holy Father called, and all I could do was stammer, `So how do I address you now?' He laughed," she said. She said she's glad she heard him laugh. His new job isn't easy, and he'll need to laugh. She said that when he was relaxing, there was never a mystery about what would make him laugh.
"Oh, cats," she said. "He loves them."
She pointed up a staircase to a wall full of painted plates, each depicting a different cat. The brothers collected the plates together, she said.
"When we were on vacation, a cat, a little kitten, would come by, and he'd be giddy, almost giggling with joy," she said." Cats love him; they always go to him straight away. And he loves them back."
He doesn't have a cat, however. Heindl doesn't think he can have one living in the Vatican. "He was always content to play with the street cats," she said. "I don't know much about Rome, but I know there's no shortage of cats there."
Benedict still owns the house he bought on the edge of Regensburg in 1970, but he visits only a couple times a year. The city adjusted his deed this week: It now lists the owner as "Holy Father." On Thursday afternoon, Chico the cat - perhaps the closest thing there is to The Pope's Cat, strolled from the shaded arch between the pope's front door and his garage. Chico belongs to Rupert Hofbauer, who looks after Benedict's garden and home.
Benedict XVI's brother said his sibling was known for his love of cats and conversation. But apparently, the Holy Father isn't too fond of death metal, even Christian death metal! He said in 1996, (via stereogum), that heavy metal was the tool of the devil and sited that the biggest offenders were Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath etc...
Thanks for supplying that information and for the added details!
I am exactly the same way. Love meeting strange cats in strange places. And they always find me, too; it's like I'm wearing a sign that says "Sucker for Cats".
The poor guy is going to be buried in cat plates now. LOL
That is so cute!
Wonderful little story.
'We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism....that recognizes nothing
definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final
measure.' Pope Benedict XVI
For Google, type in the words (if there's a phrase like benedict XVI, enclose it in quotes. Like...
"benedict XVI" cats
under the results car you get the line
Results 1 - 10 of about 137,000 for benedict XVI cats.
Its a crude measure of popularity, but it gives you an idea of how cats are working for Benedict XVI to introduce him to the world. :)
An excellent choice to solidify the legacy of Pope John Paul II
LOL! Smuggling a hammer in there would be such a joy. I've also got a real aversion for those 'Love is...' comics, the ones with the two naked kids.
Since then I've put her on a diet, and she's lost 6lbs. The vet says she's got about 2 more to go. As you might imagine, she's carrying around a lot of loose skin now which still makes her look just as fat as she was when I first got her, but now she can actually jump on the couch so it's a definite improvement.
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