ROME
BBC News
With leaders of the Catholic Church about to gather in the Vatican to consider the future of the Church’s teaching on the family, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs, James Harding, asks whether Pope Francis is the moderniser progressives hope for, or an orthodox pontiff with a personal touch.
Just over a year ago, a phone rang in the offices of La Repubblica – Italy’s main centre-left newspaper. Stella Somma, personal assistant to the editor, answered.
The man at the end of the line said he would like to speak to Eugenio Scalfari, the founder and former editor of the paper, a 90-year-old atheist, and a hero of the secular left.
“Who’s speaking?” Stella asked. “Papa Francesco,” the man said.
“Ah, the Pope,” Stella replied – and put the call through to Scalfari. “Listen, I have the Pope on the line.”
Scalfari picked up the phone at home and told Stella: “You’re crazy, it must be a joke.”
“No, it’s not a joke, I can’t make the Pope wait, so let me put you through.”
Scalfari remembers a voice saying, “‘Good morning, this is Pope Francis… you asked me for a meeting, and I want to do that. Let’s fix a date.’ And with the phone on his ear, he tells me, ‘Wednesday I can’t. Maybe Monday? Is that OK for you?’ And I told him: ‘Any day is fine for me. Monday is fine.'”
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