Pope Francis said on Sunday that some opponents within the Catholic Church did not support the death of his predecessor Benedict XVI. “exploited” to criticize his own pontificate.
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Benedict XVI resigned as pope in 2013 but remained a figurehead of the conservative wing of the church, which believes Pope Francis is too progressive, until his death on January 31 at the age of 95.
The latter denied to the press on the plane that took him back from South Sudan “certain stories being told that Benedict XVI. was embittered by the actions of the new Pope”.
“In fact, I consulted Benoît to make certain decisions. And he accepted. He agreed. I believe that the death of Benedict XVI. used by people who wanted to put grist into their own mill,” explained François.
“And those who exploit such a good man, such a man of God, I would almost say a Holy Father of the Church, are people without ethics acting for partisan purposes, and not people of the Church,” he accused.
“I wanted to give this clarification on the personality of Pope Benedict. He wasn’t a bitter person,” says François.
He did not name anyone, but Benedict XVI’s closest collaborator, Georg Ganswein, published memoirs after his death in which he reports on tensions between the ex-Pope and Francis.
In particular, Mr. Ganswein asserts that the Argentine Pope “broke the heart” of his predecessor by restricting the use of the Latin he had developed himself.