You’ve had several audi­ences with Pope Paul VI. What has been your strongest impression of these audi­ences? The strongest impression – responds Chiara Lubich – that I had was certainly during the first audience. I felt I was in front of a person who loved in a very special way. The wisdom in the Pope’s words was such that it overcame all the juridical obstacles still present; he understood; he received in his soul the whole content of the Move­ment that I was presenting to him. The Pope himself encouraged me to say everything, because there everything was possible. I remember feeling a perfect harmony between what the Pope was say­ing and what it seemed to me had come from God for the life of this Movement. My impression was so strong that I remember feeling almost as if the room where the Pope holds his audi­ences was wide open and that heaven and earth touched right there. (…) In talking to him what was your impression as to the main mo­tivating force behind the Holy Father’s action? Certainly it is the effort of fulfilling, moment by moment, his very special vocation of loving more than the others. This is what Jesus asks of him. This is what gives him, together with the pri­macy of authority, the primacy of charity. “Do you love me more than these?” Jesus asked Peter. This is the anguish, the constant effort of the Pope. While talking about public audiences, he once said that those who were not satisfied with what they saw externally could understand a secret which is pre­sent there. This secret, which is the cause of both joy and torment for the Pope, is contained in the word “more.” “Do you love me more?” (…) According to you, what is the Holy Father’s characteristic attitude in dealing with people? Paul VI loves everyone without fear; and therefore, he creates a certain unity among believers and non-believers. He gives himself to everyone in a striking way. Very many Protestants of the most varied Churches remain deeply impressed by the attitude of the Pope, by the love that consumes him, by his making him­self all things to all people. (…) He stands for dialogue with the entire world. Paul VI sees all of humanity as one potential family. He has a profoundly human and supernaturally warm presence. He is close to everyone, forgets himself and hum­ble like the ‘servant of the servants of God’. (…) What answer would you give to those who judge Paul VI as being contradictory and uncertain in the decisions of his pontificate? (…) The Holy Spirit is present and acts in the Holy Father as in no one else. As soul of the Church, the Holy Spirit provokes in it divergent tenden­cies which are signs of life. Examples of such are pluralism and truth, personality and sociality, freedom and grace, know­ledge and charity, primacy and collegi­ality. (…)  These tendencies can appear to be para­doxical and sometimes even confusing. If, however, we look at the Church from within, we see that the Holy Spirit mag­nificently harmonizes everything into the unity of the Mystical Body. We can say the same thing of what the Holy Spirit works in the Holy Father. The Pope (…) is more faithful to the content of Revelation than anyone else. At the same time he is faithful to what the Holy Spirit in­spires him to do for the good of the Church today. For example, in Hu­manae Vitae one is aware of the Pope’s fidelity to the Holy Spirit in tradition. In his dialogue with the world one can see in a concrete way the Pope’s fidelity to the very same Spirit that manifests the “signs of the times.” (…) It should be remembered that Peter’s boat is not carrying the peaceful, triumphant Church, but rather the earthly one, and is threatened on all sides by all kinds of winds of this world. The Pope must make his decisions in the name of Christ whom he represents. He has to do it in the midst of a confused ensemble of voices that almost always want what is contrary to religion. One could never say that he is overly prudent. Paul VI is prudent, not uncertain. This is proven by the fact that he is extremely cou­rageous, for example, when he chooses to be unpopular in order to remain in the friendship of Christ and of those who belong to Christ and are not of this world. Prudence, courage and universal love are the most precious qualities for one who has to rule humanity by serving it. See also: Press releases: The Focolare Movement expresses its gratitude towards Paul VI