Scottish Catholic Observer

In a book-length interview with the German author Peter Seewald, Pope Benedict has said that when he resigned he had the ‘peace of someone who had overcome difficulty’ and ‘could tranquilly pass the helm to the one who came next’.

The new book, ‘Last Testament’, will be released in English by Bloomsbury in November. The German and Italian editions were set for release tomorrow, but some excerpts were published today by the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Pope Benedict insisted once again that he was not pressured by anyone or any event to resign and he did not feel he was running away from any problem.

“My weak point perhaps is a lack of resolve in governing and making decisions,” he said. “Here, in reality, I am more a professor, one who reflects and meditates on spiritual questions. Practical governance was not my forte and this certainly was a weakness.”

Pope Francis, on the other hand, ‘is a man of practical reform’, the retired pope said. His personality and experience as a Jesuit provincial and archbishop have enabled him to take practical organizational steps.