Pope Benedict Prefers to Write Own Speeches

I'm sure there are some who will read this and will be shocked to find that John Paul didn't write all his own, but how could he with the schedule he kept?



From Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Benedict Prefers to Write Own Speeches:



"That hands-on approach by the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was a theology lecturer at German universities before becoming a Vatican insider, sharply contrasts with his predecessor, John Paul II, who gave so many speeches he needed an assembly line of wordsmiths to produce them.



John Paul often delivered several speeches a day to audiences ranging from garbage collectors in Rome to Aborigines in Australia, and the Vatican ``had to create an office to write them,'' said former Vatican diplomat John-Peter Pham. The skills of diplomats and other Holy See officials and consultants were tapped in the process.



``John Paul wrote very few of his speeches,'' although he occasionally ``changed a phrase here or there,'' according to Pham. "