Within the days and weeks after his loss of life, Benedict’s longtime secretary and a few conservative cardinals got here out with books, interviews and memos criticizing Francis’ papacy. The commentary had the impact of pitting the not too long ago departed former pope, who remained some extent of reference for conservatives and traditionalists, towards the present pope.

Francis insisted that rumors of variations with Benedict, or that Benedict was bitter about some choices he had taken, had been false and that the 2 consulted regularly and had been in settlement.

“I believe Benedict’s loss of life was instrumentalized,” Francis mentioned. “Folks wished to attain factors for their very own facet. And the individuals who instrumentalize such individual, so near God, I might nearly say … these individuals don’t have ethics, they’re individuals who belong to a celebration, to not the church.”

To drive dwelling the purpose that Benedict was above such partisanship, Francis recalled how the emeritus pope dealt with a grievance that he had acquired towards Francis over his help for authorized protections for same-sex partnerships.

When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio supported Argentine laws that might enable individuals in secure relationships, together with same-sex unions, to get pleasure from inheritance and different rights. He backed such laws as an alternative choice to Argentine proposals to legalize homosexual marriage, which the Catholic Church opposes.

Bergoglio’s place was recognized on the time however he articulated it publicly throughout a 2019 interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

Francis revealed Sunday that somebody who fancied himself “an amazing theologian” had filed a grievance with Benedict about Francis’ place however that the emeritus pope “didn’t get scared.”

“He referred to as 4 top-notch cardinal theologians and mentioned, ‘Clarify this to me.’”

“They defined it to him, and that’s how the story ended,” Francis mentioned. “It’s an anecdote to indicate how Pope Benedict moved when there was a grievance.”

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