The Pope is making a very profound statement: He is telling us that we are no different than John's original audience - the persecuted Christians of the nascent Church. He's not discounting the prophetic dimension of Revelation, he's alerting us to its historical relevancy as pertains to the current world situation.
I agree what he said is just a tiny part of Revelation. Every Christian knows what he said. It is what he did not say that matters. I have read the Catholic View of the end times. It really is not that much different than most Christians. There is no rapture but there is the rest.