VATICAN CITY
Reuters
By Isla Binnie | VATICAN CITY
Former Pope Benedict has acknowledged he was a better professor than a leader, revealing in a new book that he sometimes struggled to take decisions during his time in charge of the scandal-plagued Vatican.
However, in a book-long interview, the German-born Benedict, who is now 89, said he did not regard his eight-year stint as head of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics as a failure.
Benedict stepped down as pope in 2013, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Church tainted with scandals and snarled by mismanagement.
In excerpts of the new book published on Thursday by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Benedict said he had not been comfortable in a leadership role. …
Benedict described difficult moments including scandals around child sex abuse by priests, which he was accused of not doing enough to stop, and over his lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.
He also mentioned the “Vatileaks” case in which his butler leaked documents alleging corruption at the Vatican, but said overall there had been a “positive movement” during his papacy. …
A more unexpected anecdote emerged on Thursday when Seewald told German magazine Die Zeit that Benedict, found “serious” romance when he was a “good-looking young man”.
“One of his fellow students told me that he had an effect on women, and vice versa. The decision in favor of celibacy was not easy for him,” Seewald said.
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