BOB ABERNETHY:Benedict last week celebrated two years as pope, and we want to explore the kind of pope he's turned out to be with David Gibson, a long-time Vatican correspondent and author of THE RULE OF BENEDICT. He joins us from New York.

David, welcome. Two years into Benedict's papacy, how do you think of him now -- as teacher, reformer, world leader, all of the above? How?

DAVID GIBSON (Author, THE RULE OF BENEDICT): I think, Bob, I'd see him very much as a teacher. That's his view of his role right now. For almost 20 years -- more than 20 years -- he was the chief doctrinal officer serving at the right hand of John Paul II. And now he's the pope and the pastor of the universal Church. As he said to some dinner companions last fall, it was easy to know the doctrine; it's much harder to help a billion people live it. And that's really what he's trying to do is help people understand and live the doctrine of the Church.

ABERNETHY: Some of those billion in this country and around the world have wished that some of those teachings could change -- on the sexual issues, on whatever contributes to the shortage of priests around the world, the role of women in the Church. Any chance of that?

Mr. GIBSON: In a word, Bob, no. Benedict really -- he's essentially reaffirmed that there won't be any change on those teachings or Church practices. But he also just doesn't see those as on the radar. He says those are not the problems of the Catholic Church. The problems are problems of faith, of understanding the faith and believing in a true, orthodox, committed, and enthusiastic way.

For him, if we would all just be better Catholics, then all these other problems would take care of themselves.