Our Holy Father has given another interview that has folks talking. Published by the Italian daily la Repubblica, it is really more of a personal account of a meeting between Pope Francis and atheist Eugenio Scalfari, co-founder of la Repubblica and a well-known figure in Italian leftist politics, but it contains some questions and answers supposedly exchanged between Scalfari and the Pope.
While certainly a fascinating read, it's probably best to approach Scalfari's account with a least a measure of skepticism as some of the details from the meeting seem to be potentially inaccurate (i.e. a noted Vatican journalist has pointed out how unlikely it is that Pope Francis would refer to himself as being "humble," and he also says that the account, supposedly told by Pope Francis, of how he prayed in a small room before accepting his election as pope could not have happened in the way described by Scalfari).
At any rate, Fr. Robert Barron offers some great insight to these seemingly "off-the-cuff" interviews that the pope has been giving. Although, in this clip, Fr. Barron is talking about a different interview than the one Pope Francis gave to Scalfari, his insights into the way mass media loves to parse and misconstrue the words and thoughts of the Pope are spot on. It's worth watching:
