The pope was commenting on the day’s Gospel, which relates the “dialogue” between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Because of the great respect Jesus shows her — despite her being a Samaritan, and despite her disordered life — she is open to the words of Christ, when he speaks to her about the true faith. She recognizes him as a prophet, and intuits that he could be the messiah, and Jesus tells her plainly that ne is, in fact, the messiah — something that happens very rarely in the Gospels, the pope said.