The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity said in an interview that “Benedict XVI is above all my favorite theologian and then my favorite pope.”
Cardinal Kurt Koch, the dicastery’s prefect since 2010, said that “Pope Benedict was a scholar, he focused on the content of the faith. Pope Francis focused more on relationships and encounters. With Pope Leo, it is still too early to say exactly where he will emphasize.”
Cardinal Koch added that when Pope Francis’s spontaneity “went a bit wrong, then of course it was rather difficult—he didn’t always achieve the good goal he wanted to achieve.”