The pope. There is no doubt about it, he is an influential and important person, not just in the Netherlands, but in the entire world. He has now become Onze Vriend in Rome (our friend in Rome).
On Tuesday, October 27th at 11 AM, the Straatnieuws journalists arrived to interview Paus Franciscus (Pope Francis). After months of geheimhouding (confidentiality), since nobody was allowed to know that the interview was going to take place, the moment was there. Marc, a straatnieuwsverkoper (street newspaper vendor) is the first Dutch journalist to have an exclusive interview with a pope. Together with editor-in-chief Frank Dries and Vatican experts Stijn Fens and Jan-Willem Wits, he flew to Rome for a one hour-long talk. A one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Marc, and for the street community at large.
The story is expected to attract 3 million readers, as it will be featured in 113 street papers, sold by 13.000 street vendors (who make their money this way) in 34 countries. Therefore, just the fact that the pope has agreed to be interviewed by a street paper helps the papers gain publicity and fare better.
For Marc, this was just a great moment: op de koffie bij de paus (having a coffee with the pope)! However, no coffee was served. That is not usual in Italy, apparently. He is not religious himself, and asked the pope personal questions. What did he want to become in life? Did he always want to become pope? The interview could not be held in Dutch, unfortunately. The Pope’s words: ‘”Ik moet me verontschuldigen dat ik geen Nederlands spreek.”
The Cover of the “Pope Edition” of Straatnieuws (Image by Straatnieuws Utrecht at straatnieuws.nl)
How to read the article?
Do you want to read the article yourself? You can order the Straatnieuws edition on the website, however I am not sure whether they ship internationally (UPDATE 11/27/15: I received my copy in France, so yes, shipping internationally works). The only way to pay is via iDEAL, so without a Dutch bank account, you will not be able to order it, anyway. In case one of the street papers in your area features it, through the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) you can see which papers adopt the story. At the bottom of the article is a list of street papers that adopt the interview and their release dates.
My copy! (Updated on 11/27/15)
This, of course, became quite a sensation! The interviewers gave an interview themselves on the radio. Listen to that here!
For an NOS news report, watch that here.
