In these extracts from his new book-length interview, the Pope Emeritus reflects on his ‘guillotine’ election, his achievements as Pope and his tendency to ‘think too much’
Why did you not name yourself John Paul III?
I felt that would be inappropriate, because a standard had been set there which I couldn’t match. I could not be a John Paul III. I was a different character, cut from a different cloth; I had a different sort of charisma, or rather a non-charisma.
Suddenly: Christ’s vicar on earth. What inner change was going on there?
