Pope bemoans suffering in Good Friday TV interview

VATICAN CITY—Suffering and conflict in the world will be the focus for an unprecedented television interview with Pope Benedict XVI on Friday as Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.

Benedict will respond to questions from countries including Iraq, Ivory Coast and Japan in the interview starting at 1200 GMT, including one from a seven-year-old Japanese girl traumatized by the earthquake and tsunami.

Christian students in Iraq will also ask a question, as will a Muslim woman from Ivory Coast which has been riven by a brutal conflict in recent months.

The mother of a man in a coma in Italy will also ask about euthanasia.

“Has the soul of my son Francesco who has been in a vegetative state since Easter 2009 left his body since he is no longer conscious or is it still there?” the mother will ask, according to an extract from the interview.

Francesco’s soul “is still present in his body,” the pope will respond.

The interview was recorded last week in a Vatican library. Italian public broadcaster RAI received 2,000 questions, selecting only a handful.