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Pope Francis with his late predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Photo: L'osservatore Romano/dpa

Clear words: Pope Francis sees his predecessor Benedict XVI. a transitional pope.

How does he come up with that?

The 87-year-old pontiff sees it this way: After the upheavals initiated by the Polish Pope John Paul II, the German Joseph Ratzinger was the only candidate to become pontiff at the time of the conclave, i.e. the papal election, in 2005 could. "After the revolution of John Paul II, who was a dynamic, very active pontiff, who took the initiative, who traveled (...), there was a need for a pope who could maintain a healthy balance, a transitional pope," said the current head of the Catholic Church in a pre-released excerpt from a book of interviews that will be published in Spanish on Wednesday.

During the papal election at the time, some cardinals had the idea of ​​blocking Ratzinger, who comes from Marktl in Bavaria, said Francis in the book by the Vatican correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC. The Cardinals also brought his name into play for this. But: »If they had chosen someone like me, someone who caused a lot of chaos, I wouldn't have been able to achieve anything. That would have been impossible at that time," said Francis, whose real name is Jorge Bergoglio and whose poor health caused a lot of excitement around the Cartage.

He's apparently feeling a little better now. Pope Francis used his traditional Easter message in St. Peter's Square to make an urgent appeal for peace and called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. In addition to the Middle East conflict, the head of the Catholic Church also recalled the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine at the climax of the Easter celebrations. "The risen Christ opens a path of peace for the suffering population groups in these regions," said the 87-year-old on Sunday.

In the Easter message, the Pope usually focuses on conflicts and wars and calls for peace and reconciliation. This year he also remembered Syria, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Haiti and Myanmar as well as conflicts on the African continent. Francis' appeals for peace were punctuated by applause from the faithful in St. Peter's Square. Later he gave the traditional blessing “Urbi et Orbi”, i.e. to the city and the world.

dop/dpa