He strongly criticizes the Vatican press office, though, for being so slow at getting these sessions out:
But little or nothing of these dialogues between the pope and his interlocutors reaches the general public. Benedict XVI replies to each question at length and in depth, and so makes it almost impossible to extract short, flashy phrases fit for the newspaper articles.
And the Vatican press office is of little help. In order to be distributed to the journalists, the pope’s remarks must first be replayed and transcribed, and this usually takes a day to complete. And then they are distributed only in the language in which they were delivered, Italian. The translations in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German arrive many days later and in deranged order. For example, twelve days after it took place, Benedict XVI’s April 6 conversation with young people was available on the Vatican website only in its Italian version.
And yet these are texts of very noteworthy importance. Because of their spontaneity, they better permit one to enter into the pope’s mind and understand the things that are closest to his heart.
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