In an interview with the Vatican newspaper, Franco-Belgian author Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt reflected on his writing, as well as on a recent papal audience with writers in which he took part.
Schmitt, a convert from atheism to Catholicism, said that he was most struck by Pope Leo’s reference to empathy. Schmitt commented:
For a writer, whether a believer or not, the defining characteristic of a storyteller, novelist, or playwright is the ability to become all the characters in one’s story and to enable the spectator or reader to become those characters as well. It is the fundamental experience of shared humanity, of approaching otherness, of desire, and of engaging with the “other” and its mystery.
I truly believe that empathy is the primary quality a writer must possess. The Pope hit the nail on the head.