‘Regensburg caused the Pope great suffering’
Anna Arco meets the Roman princess who rediscovered her faith through her friendship with Pope Benedict XVI
20 June 2008

Donna Alessandra Borghese pictured on the island of Panarea.

Catholicism is in Donna Alessandra Borghese's blood. Her family produced Pope Paul V and numerous other men and women in the Church's history. But for the Roman princess, who is a writer and journalist, returning to the faith was a "conversion" story. And it is one that she is frequently compelled to bear witness to, both in public interviews and in her writings. Four of the seven books she's written are about her faith, one of which, In the Footsteps of Joseph Ratzinger, has just been translated into English.

Born to a family that rose to importance in the 13th century, married, albeit briefly, to a Greek shipping heir and engaged in the art world, Donna Alessandra was no stranger to the public eye. Her social set was fast-living, glamorous and international. Religion was for fuddie-duddies and sanctimonious bores. Then a visit to an old friend in Bavaria changed her life. Her prejudices about religion started crumbling and the personal encounter with Christ, through the Mass, did the rest.

When I meet her she is immaculately dressed - the lining of her handbag even matches her trousers - she is still the consummate sophisticate, but her voice assumes an earnestness and urgency when she speaks of her return to the faith.

"It was as though, all my life, I'd been driving in my car in the same direction, looking out of the window while I drove and I saw many people, opportunities and things as I passed by and I assigned certain values to them. Then suddenly I see a sign for a u-turn and I turn my car. Now I'm taking the same street back, look at the same window and I see the same things but I give them different values. Priorities change, but the first thing that changes is that you no longer feel alone. You feel very much beloved," she says.

The U-turn came when her Bavarian friend took her to Mass with her family, then, slowly and gradually, Donna Alessandra says, she started reading the Gospel and going to church. Her outlook changed and she felt called to bear witness to her experience in the form of Con Occhi Nuovi ("With Fresh Eyes"), her first book about her faith.

Submitting her extremely personal account to public scrutiny wasn't easy, she admits with a wry smile. You expose yourself to criticism when you do that sort of a thing, she says, but as a Catholic she felt that she had to share the "big gift" that had been given to her.



"I was very excited and passionate and missionary about spreading the news that I had found the faith again and that it was something great in my life. I wanted to share it with as many people as possible," she says.

The reactions surprised her. Letters flooded in from around the world. Readers identified with her story and she made new friends. In her own circle, however, it was more difficult. Some people found her changed perception too far away from what they knew.

She laughs: "You know, nemo propheta in patria sua. People who belong to the same group are crueller sometimes. It can be jealousy or envy. But I got used to it, because its part of the game. Being a witness of faith, bearing testimony and spreading the news is what we should do.

"I did not lose anything with finding my faith again, but I gained a lot of real freedom. I received innumerable letters from people who said, 'I met Jesus Christ, I changed my life.'

"A converted person is usually very much loved by people or very much hated. You know why? Because converted people, they want, like me, to tell everybody, through books, articles, their witness. They are not just the proof that God exists, but they are the proof that God operates, even nowadays and can change somebody's life.

"This puts people who are in front of a convert into the position that they have to question who they are and where they are going, they have to make a choice and that can be uncomfortable."

Donna Alessandra's journey to faith made her another friend, one whom she admires and respects very much: Joseph Ratzinger. Such is her admiration for the Holy Father that a Roman wit remarked at the Pope's election: "Now Alessandra Borghese will probably become a cardinal."

She rates him as one of the greatest thinkers of our time, but describes him as a gentle and humble man who has taken a great burden on his shoulders.

"He has changed a lot since he became Pope. I mean, he is still himself - gentle, humble and amiable to everybody, always saying thank you - but he has had to adapt and become the Pope of everybody. As Cardinal Ratzinger he was a lot more free to say what he thought, but now, while he still says what he has to in a straightforward way, he has to temper it.

"The reaction to his speech at Regensburg caused him great suffering, I think. He went there as a professor, to address his colleagues and it spiralled out of control. Since then something has changed. Maybe he has understood that being Pope is a tough job. He has carried the cross many times, but he's a free man. He would have been very well in the house at Pentling, relaxing with his friends and writing. Becoming Pope is not winning the lottery, it requires a big sacrifice and is a great weight that you have to put on your shoulders."

She speaks a great deal of the personal encounter with Christ, with the person and not an abstract idea which is at the heart of faith.

"It is a very personal, very real and loving relationship we Catholics have with Christ," she says. "Pope Benedict writes about it beautifully in Deus Caritas Est. It is an encounter and through his love, he is real."

In a way, it is the same personal encounter with Christ, the sense of his humanity, which prompted her to write In the Footsteps of Joseph Ratzinger. She wanted people to see Pope as a child, see the places Benedict visited and the places where he prayed and see him, perhaps not as the follower of Peter, a distant figure, but as someone who is human and approachable.

The interview is almost over. One last question, a very personal one: what is her daily prayer routine?

She laughs again. "I'm not a saint, unfortunately. I try to go to Mass every day. I carry my rosary with me and pray when I have a moment and when I am driving I listen to Pope John Paul II praying the rosary. I love the sound of his voice."

In the Footsteps of Joseph Ratzinger is published by Family Publications, priced £7.95. To order a copy, visit www.familypublications.co.uk