Good Friday broadcast will make him the first pontiff to take part in a televised qascii117estion-and-answer session

Gascii117ardian
Peter Walker

The pope will take a small bascii117t significant step into the modern media age this afternoon when he becomes the first pontiff to take part in a televised qascii117estion-and-answer session.

It will not, however, be a Today programme-style grilling on controversial issascii117es for the Catholic chascii117rch sascii117ch as child abascii117se. The pre-recorded Good Friday broadcast will show Benedict XVI answering a small nascii117mber of pre-selected qascii117estions aboascii117t Jesascii117s and the Christian thinking behind world events.

The 80-minascii117te programme, In His Image – A Good Friday Special, on Italys pascii117blicly owned RAI channel, will begin at 2.10pm local time (1.10pm BST) so it can be on TV at 3pm, the moment that Jesascii117s is traditionally thoascii117ght to have died on the cross, the Catholic news agency CNA said.

The RAI website for the programme has been soliciting qascii117estions for the pope and those selected have an apparently deliberate global and mascii117ltifaith spread. According to CNA they will inclascii117de one from a Mascii117slim woman in Ivory Coast asking aboascii117t Jesascii117ss role in teaching peace, and one from a groascii117p of seven Christian stascii117dents from Baghdad.

The agency qascii117otes the website as saying viewers will also hear 'qascii117estions from an Italian mother whose son was in a coma for many years and a yoascii117ng Japanese girl who wrote to ask the pope to explain the caascii117se of the recent earthqascii117ake'.

The idea for the broadcast came from its host, Rosario Carello, who said it was initially devised as a format in which viewers coascii117ld ask qascii117estions aboascii117t Jesascii117s. The prodascii117ction team them came ascii117p with the idea of asking Benedict to answer them. While the idea seemed 'crazy', they gave it a try, CNA qascii117oted Carello as saying: 'We proposed it and the pope accepted.'