Vatican City – Here and there in the Vatican, no one believed it: the Pope was going What weather is it, the very popular talk show of the third Rai network, has blown more than one prelate out of their seats. So much so that since yesterday on the other side of the Tiber funny jokes have been circulating, the first is that it is “Francesco decided to go to the hearing of Fabio Fazio“and the second is that the transmission will now be called “What a temple it’s like”.
Pope Francesco da Fazio, this is what he will say
Joking aside, this passage of the papal communication contains all the determination of the pontiff to speak to widest possible audience, crumbling the clichés and ushering in a new season. A decision that allows him to use a well-established transmission to reach 5 million Italians at home. In Fazio’s studio, in front of the cameras, other illustrious guests have passed in recent years, such as Tom Hanks, Lady Gaga, Obama, Meryl Streep or Steven Spielberg.
The audience peak was however recorded by the return of Celentano: it was followed by 6 million 271 thousand viewers with a share of 24.81%. He who knows if the pope will be able to do better with the public this evening. The only difference this time is that he tonight pope francis will not be physically present in the RAI lounge: instead, through a connection, he will speak from one of his rooms in Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel in which he chose to live in 2013, after the election, renouncing the use of the Apostolic Palace speech deeming it too luxurious and excessive. As a rule, the organization of such TV events is prepared to the smallest detail, as is the programming with questions. Pope and Fazio were certainly in agreement on the central points of the conversation. It is difficult to list them with certainty but it is not excluded that the pope wants to address the question of Covid, the recovery, the crux of vaccines which continue to be lacking in developing countries. And then migrations, galloping secularization, an increasingly shaken and weakened Europe and the winds of war blowing over Ukraine. On February 27, Francesco will travel to Florence, the city of the model mayor La Pira (soon to be blessed) to meet mayors and bishops from all over the Mediterranean: this subject could also be discussed, as well as the enormous problems on the pedophilia that are emerging throughout Europe to the point of touching the image of Benedict XVI, as well as the pressing demands of the Church of the North to abolish priestly celibacy and to open the priesthood to women. There is a lot of meat on the fire in this last period.
His Holiness Pope Francis, Sunday at #CTCF. pic.twitter.com/Bhydm1N1yF
– Che tempo che fa (@chetempochefa) February 3, 2022
Pope Francis faces the interviews, even the most insidious, with an open mind, he hardly avoids questions. In general, he is very good at dribbling traps. In many ways, Fazio’s interview joins those he has given in the past to Jordi Evola, one of Spain’s most popular presenters, and Valentina Alazraki, one of television’s most known throughout Latin America. During these two interviews, she even spoke without filter of her resignation. To Televisa he said he had a feeling the pontificate would be short “Four or five years. I don’t know, or two or three. Well, two have already passed. It’s like a somewhat vague feeling. I’m telling you, that may not be the case. It’s the same with the psychology of what he’s playing and then he believes he’s going to lose so he won’t be disillusioned later. And if he wins, he’s happy. I don’t know what it is, but I have a feeling that the Lord put me here for a short time… But it’s a feeling. That’s why I always leave the possibility open”.
A subject on which Pope Francis, in the eighth year of his pontificate, later accommodated himself by specifying that he had never thought of resigning, even when, last July, he was under the knife for the difficult colon operation. Father Antonio Spadaro, Jesuit, director of “La Civiltà Cattolica” and his spin doctor, from behind the scenes some time ago, presenting the book resulting from his conversations with Pope Francis, entitled “Now ask your questions. Conversations about the Church and the world of tomorrow,” he said, for the pontiff, the interview has a pastoral value. In this book there are a few sentences that show the relationship that Bergoglio has with communication: “Everything I do has a pastoral value. If I did not have this confidence I would not give interviews, the interview is a form of communication from my ministry”. Fabio Fazio’s interview should be read in this context, entering the homes of Italians, given that Italians go to church less and less.
