Pope Benedict XVI on Friday took part in a chat show on Italian television in a first for a leader of the Catholic Church, calling for peace in Côte d’Ivoire and the defence of Christians in Iraq.
But he confessed he had no answer to the first of the seven questions put to him, from a seven-year-old Japanese girl who asked: “Why do I have to be so afraid?” after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
“I also have the same questions: Why is it this way? Why do you have to suffer so much while others live in ease? And we do not have the answers,” the 84-year-old pontiff said in the candid question and answer session.
The pope’s comments were incorporated into a daytime religious discussion programme on public television — a highly unusual forum for a pope.
The Vatican under Benedict has tried to make greater use of modern communications, embracing the blogosphere and social media networks.
In the pre-recorded interview, the pope also urged “all sides” in the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire to renounce violence following months of conflict.
“I have to say that I have received heartbreaking letters from Côte d’Ivoire in which I see the sorrow, the depth of suffering, and I am saddened that I can do so little,” the pope added.
He also called on Iraqi authorities to ensure the dwindling Christian minority in that country is protected.
“All the institutions that truly have the possibility to do something in Iraq for you should do it,” the pope said in answer to a question from the Christian community on how to encourage Christians not to flee Iraq.
In another question, an Italian mother asked: “Has the soul of my son Francesco, who has been in a vegetative coma since Easter Sunday 2009, left his body seeing that he is no longer conscious, or is it still near him?”
The woman was shown asking her question next to her son in a hospital.
“Certainly his soul is still present in his body. The situation, perhaps, is like that of a guitar whose strings have been broken and therefore can no longer play,” the pope responded.
“The instrument of the body is fragile like that, it is vulnerable, and the soul cannot play, so to speak, but remains present,” he said.
The broadcast comes on the day that Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ and just over a week before a ceremony on May 1 that will put Benedict’s late predecessor John Paul II on the path to sainthood.
The interview was recorded last week in a Vatican library. Italian public broadcaster RAI said it had received 2 000 questions for the programme.
None of the questions selected dealt with the scandal of paedophile priests — which has badly damaged the image of the Church in recent years.
Easter Week last year was dominated by the shocking revelations of child abuse scandals, with a number of gaffes by priests and cardinals.
Addressing the upcoming beatification of his predecessor, the pope on Thursday said the Church has both “shameful mistakes and luminous examples”. — AFP