Editor Eugenio Scalfari has conceded it is “really possible” that
some of the Pope's words he reported in the interview published in La
Repubblica Oct. 1 “were not shared by the Pope himself.”
Last month's interview led to several criticisms of Pope Francis,
notably Scalfari quoting the Pope saying of conscience that “everyone
has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and
fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world
a better place.”
According to Scalfari's reporting of Pope Francis' words, he also described the Roman Curia as a “leprosy.”
After the interview was published, Vatican press director Fr. Federico
Lombardi maintained that the text was overall faithful to the Pope's
thought, even though it could not be considered part of his Magisterium.
The interview was then published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore
Romano Oct. 2, and was inserted among the Pope's speeches on the
Vatican's website, translated in six languages.
In the weeks after its publication, however, the interview drew
widespread criticism as well as doubts over the accuracy of the Pope's
words.
The text was recently removed from the Vatican's website because “the
information in the interview is reliable on a general level, but not on
the level of each individual point analyzed,” Fr. Lombardi told
journalists Nov. 15.
In a meeting with the journalists of the Foreign Press Association of
Rome, Scalfari maintained that all his interviews have been conducted
without a recording device, nor taking notes while the person is
speaking.
“I try to understand the person I am interviewing, and after that I write his answers with my own words,” Scalfari explained.
He conceded that it is therefore possible that “some of the Pope’s words I reported, were not shared by Pope Francis.”
Scalfari recounted that after La Repubblica published two of his op-eds
full of questions for Pope Francis, Archbishop Giovanni Becciu,
substitute of the Vatican Secretariat of State, wrote him saying that
Pope Francis had read his articles, and would, when time permitted,
answer with a written text.
Scalfari responded to Archbishop Becciu, thanking for the attention and
adding that he would prefer a face-to-face meeting with the Pope.
After a few weeks, Scalfari received a nine-page letter from Pope
Francis, accompanied by an introduction written by Archbishop Becciu.
Scalfari phoned Pope Francis' residence at the Vatican, and told
Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, the Pope's particular secretary, that he would
publish the letter he had received, and did so Sept. 11.
The letter was published on La Repubblica Sep. 11 and Pope Francis then
called Scalfari Sept. 20, and arranged a meeting for them, to be held
Sept. 24, in the afternoon.
Scalfari said that at the end of the 80 minute conversation, he asked
Pope Francis permission to report the conversation.
The Pope agreed, and
Scalfari offered to send him the text before its publication.
According to Scalfari, the Pope told him not to “waste time” in sending him the text, saying, “I trust you.”
Scalfari said he nevertheless sent his text of the conversation to the
Vatican on Sept. 29, together with an accompanying letter.
In the letter, he reportedly wrote: “I must explain that I wrote up our
conversation in order to let everybody understand our dialogue. Keep in
mind that I did not report some things you told me, and that I report
some things you did not tell me, which I wanted to insert to let the
reader understand who you are.”
According to Scalfari, Monsignor Xuereb called him two days later,
saying that Pope Francis had permitted its publication, and the text was
subsequently published.
According to a Vatican source who spoke with CNA Nov. 19, the interview
“had to be removed from the Vatican website since it did not report
faithfully the Pope’s words.”
The source especially wanted to point out that “Pope Francis never
referred to the Curia as a leprosy; he was making a more general
assessment of the medieval courts. Pope Francis was very sorry that
people in the curia felt uncomfortable with his words.”