How Pope Francis took the world by surprise
Pope Francis is one of the most prominent international leaders at present, and he’s the focus of this interview on Eureka Street TV.
In our Skype conversation, American journalist, Robert Mickens, a veteran Pope-watcher and Vatican analyst, gives his frank views on the relatively brief but highly significant and surprising pontificate of Pope Francis.
Mickens first came to prominence in 2005 when he began what would become his very popular column, ‘Letter from Rome’, in the prestigious British Catholic newspaper The Tablet.
But his life in the Eternal City started long before that. He first went to Rome in 1986 as a seminarian for the diocese of Toledo, Ohio in the Midwest of the USA to study at the Gregorian University run by the Jesuits.
After two years he decided that life as a priest was not for him, largely because of disillusionment with the clericalism and careerism he saw in the Church in Rome. But he continued theological studies and completed the three year course as a lay person.
In 1989 he got a job at Vatican Radio where he remained till 2000. During this period he was deeply affected by interviewing a wide range of impressive Catholics, mainly visiting missionaries and religious, who reaffirmed his faith. He often travelled with Pope John Paul II, doing live radio commentary for papal liturgies.
From 2000 till 2003 he did his first stint as Vatican correspondent for The Tablet. He then moved to Geneva for two years to work as a communications officer for Franciscans International, an NGO representing all the branches of the Franciscan order on social justice issues at the United Nations.
In 2005 he returned to Rome to work for The Tablet again as Vatican correspondent, and he began his column, ‘Letter from Rome.’ This continued till April of this year when he parted ways with the publication.
In October 2014 he became editor of a new online Catholic journal Global Pulse. As well as being the new home for his ‘Letter from Rome’, it compiles reporting and features from a number of well-known national and regional journals including Eureka Street. The others are La Croix from France, Commonweal Magazine from America, eRenlai from Taiwan, and UCANews from sources across Asia.
This Skype interview is in two parts - Part 1 (13 mins) above, and Part 2 (11 mins) below:
Peter Kirkwood is a freelance writer and video consultant with a master's degree from the Sydney College of