INTERVIEW TO POPE FRANCIS PUBLISHED IN AVVENIRE, THE WORDS ABOUT BENEDICT XVI

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(18/11/16) In the long interview given to Stefania Falasca and published in the newspaper Avvenire, Pope Francis mentioned Pope Benedict XVI - his predecessor - a lot of times. "Benedict XVI said that ‘the name of God is mercy’ " Francis underlined when he answered a question about the extraordinary Holy Year, with the closing of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica on Sunday 20th November.

About the relationship with Lutherans, Francis noted that “Benedict XVI had been to Erfurt before me” and in that occasion he had said that “the question about ‘how can I have a merciful God’ had entered the heart of Luther and it was behind his theological and interior research”.

At the end, in a meditation about the unity of Christian people, the Pontiff noticed that “the Church never develops because of proselytism but ‘because of attraction’ as Benedict XVI had written”.