Salvatore Cernuzio recounts intimate moments with Pope Francis in new book

Rome, April 18 (EFE).- Journalist Salvatore Cernuzio talked with EFE about “Father,” a portrait of the late Pope Francis's most personal side, whose one-year anniversary of his death will be on April 21.

CAMERA: DANIEL CÁCERES

FOOTAGE OF JOURNALIST SALVATORE CERNUZIO IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE, VATICAN CITY.

SOUNDBITES OF SALVATORE CERNUZIO:

1.- "I felt it was my duty to share this gift I have received, because I don’t know how else to explain it: this relationship has truly been a gift, and so has sharing it with so many people. And so, a look back at many situations, some absurd, like finding myself in the car or on the plane behind him; many funny moments, and moving moments, like that one in the hospital. And, above all, to show that the public image of the pope that so many of us have loved was the same in his private life—perhaps even more so. There is that warmth, the ability to listen, the welcoming spirit, the generosity even when it came to giving his time."

2.- "I especially remember that, during a trip, our colleague Eva Fernández handed him a letter containing all the migrants’ testimonies, and his instinct was to take it and leave (for the Canary Islands). That was just the way he was. I was always struck by how naturally he ignored protocol; that came later. Meanwhile, people were thinking of the pope being present in a place of suffering, and this was, in my opinion, one of the things that made him truly great and so beloved by the people."

3.- “He felt that pain caused by wars. I don’t want to feed the myth of a heroic pope; he was that way by his very nature. That is to say, more than for his health, he suffered because he couldn’t act, because he couldn’t do something.”

4.- “He had a hearing problem, so, shouting, I took his hands and said, ‘Dad, do you know I love you?’ and he gestured with his hand to say ‘yes, yes, yes, me too, me too,’ and that was our last conversation.”