(Rome) Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI celebrated the eighth anniversary of his historic resignation by repeatedly in an interview published Monday that he intentionally left out that there was “only one Pope”, Francis.
Benedict XVI spoke daily Corriere della Sera To try once again to silence his more conservative supporters who claim that the election of Francis in 2013 was illegal and that Benedict XVI was still a pope.
Benedict XVI, who will turn 94 next month, appealed to “some of my most fanatical friends” who were still ulcers by a resignation that opened the door to a completely different papacy under Francis: less dogmatic and more focused on the role of the church he must play with the poor and the marginalized .
“It was a tough decision. But I took it with full awareness and I think it was right,” Benedict XVI would have said on a daily basis.
In his statements – which according to Corriere della Sera, Expressed in part by Benedict XVI’s longtime secretary Monsignor George Ginswin – the Pope Emeritus refers to some of the “conspiracy theories” to which his supporters mistakenly attribute his resignation: the 2012 “Vatileaks” scandal that led to the revelation of his private papers; Scandal of gay priests in the Vatican; Or the scandal associated with his rehabilitation of a bishop in denial.
Benedict XVI said, “They do not want to believe in a choice made with full knowledge of the facts.” But my conscience is clear. ”
Benedict XVI, a German theologian who served as Pope for eight years, shook the planet when he announced his resignation on February 28, 2013, becoming the first pope in 600 years to leave office. He made it clear at that point that he no longer had the necessary energy. His retirement was spent most of the time in seclusion in a former convent in the Vatican Gardens.
Some conservatives and traditionalists who lacked the dogmatic papacy of Benedict XVI have made several arguments to challenge the legitimacy of Francis, such as the Latin formula that Benedict XVI used to announce his departure.
