In 1976, as a young religion reporter for the major German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, Heinz-Joachim Fischer interviewed a rising theologian -- the Rev. Joseph Ratzinger -- and formed a personal and professional friendship with the man who is now Pope Benedict XVI.

	Pope Benedict XVI

Mr. Fischer, who spoke last night at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, has been the Vatican correspondent for his newspaper for many years, and quickly produced a book, "Pope Benedict XVI: A Personal Portrait," based on decades of interviews.

They have met off the record since Pope Benedict's April 19 election, said Mr. Fischer, who was surprised at how much his old friend, who hated administration, enjoys his new job.

At World Youth Day in Germany, the pope "looked really happy, like with a new love," Mr. Fischer said.

"After years and years of being criticized as the Panzer Kardinal, and being attacked by liberals in the United States where it was said they hated Cardinal Ratzinger, now he has found the agreement of the cardinals [that he should be pope] and he is accepted by the people. In St. Peter's Square, he looks out on 100,000 people and they wished him well, they liked him. This is a great psychological help."

Mr. Fischer also has a long-standing relationship with the Rev. Hans Kung, the dissident Swiss theologian who once hired then-Father Ratzinger to teach, but who later lost his own license to teach Catholic theology largely due to Cardinal Ratzinger's concern that he had abandoned basic Christian doctrines, such as salvation through Christ alone.

Pope Benedict surprised much of the Catholic world by meeting with Father Kung Sept. 24 at the papal summer residence outside Rome.

But Mr. Fischer did not find it surprising, noting that Pope Benedict had earlier met with crusading secular journalist Oriana Fallaci and a schismatic conservative Lefebvrite bishop, both of them fiercer critics of the church than Father Kung.

"The pope has no fear of an intellectual challenge," Mr. Fischer said of that meeting.

Mr. Fischer was also not surprised when, at a meeting with priests in July, Pope Benedict said he wanted further study of the church's response to divorced Catholics who remarry outside the church. While as the church's chief doctrinal guardian, he always upheld church teaching about who can receive communion, in pastoral situations he was generous, Mr. Fischer said.

"Cardinal Ratzinger never refused communion to anybody -- not to a Protestant, not to a divorced man or woman," he said.

He expects Pope Benedict to talk less about divisive issues in the church, and more about the basic issues of daily Christian living.

"I think he will speak less about sexual morality to avoid the impression that the church is always focused on these issues," Mr. Fischer said.

In Rome, Pope Benedict has abandoned the bulletproof "popemobile" that Pope John Paul used after he was shot, for an open version that lets him shake hands and bless babies.

"I think he likes to have fresh air on a nice day, and he thinks there is an overkill of security today," Mr. Fischer said. "He believes if something is going to happen, it will happen. He is confident in God."