”Pope Francis: Meetings with Dominique Wolton: Politics and Society,” is the title of the book-interview published by the French researcher, Founder of the Institute of the Sciences of Communication of CNRS, who talked with the Pontiff in the course of a dozen private audiences at the Vatican.
The work of the 70-year-old sociologist, the publication of whose book is planned for September 6, 2017 in France (Editions de L’Observatoire), was presented on August 30 on TV News France 2. It’s the fruit of a year of meetings between the intellectual and the Argentine Pope.
In the book, the Pope recalls his childhood, the figures of his mother and his two grandmothers: “I thank God for having known these true women in my life.”
He confides hat the underwent psychoanalysis when he was 42. “That helped me a lot at a moment of my life when I had need to consult (. . .) to clarify things.”
As regards his pontificate, he repeats that he’s not “a professor” but “a Pastor.” “I never thought I’d end up in this cage, but I remain free interiorly,” he asserts.
In the pages, the Holy Father addresses different subjects he has at heart, such as that of migrants, criticising the attitude of the Old Continent: “At this moment Europe is afraid; it closes, closes, closes.”
Other subjects of this book of more than 400 pages are: peace and war, politics and religions, globalization and cultural diversity, fundamentalim and secularism, ecology, the inequalities in the world, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, the individual, the family, otherness, the times, confidence and joy.
After his meetings with the Latin American Pope, Dominique Wolton speaks of his smile, his gentleness, his eyes “extremely bright,” his intelligence.
Dominique Wolton is Research Director at CNRS. He is the Founder and has been Director of Hermes international review (CNRS Editions) since 1988. He is the author of some 30 works, including the book-interview “Le Choix de Dieu.” with Monsignor Jean-Marie Lustiger (1927-2007), former Archbishop of Paris.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
