Pope Benedict rejects rumors on why he resigned as “simply absurd”

[hrmjustin]

David Gibson
VATICAN CITY (RNS) As the anniversary of his surprising resignation approaches, Pope Benedict XVI has rejected as “simply absurd” the speculation that he was forced to step down, and he said he still wears the distinctive white papal cassock for “purely practical reasons.”

“At the moment of my resignation there were no other clothes available,” Benedict wrote in a brief letter to an Italian journalist that was published on Wednesday.

The emeritus pope also said that he kept the name Benedict, rather than reverting to his birth name of Joseph Ratzinger, because it was a simple solution.

Rumors that this signaled that he remained something of a “shadow pope” to his successor, Pope Francis, was “another case of completely unfounded speculations being made.”

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/02/26/pope-benedict-rejects-rumors-resigned-simply-absurd/

[TlalocW]

1. My theory... He resigned because there's a woman involved

I have nothing to back it up. I just want to start the rumor.

And the current Pope should take Ratzi clothes shopping, and they should film a montage of his trying on different clothes to the J. Geils Band, "Freeze Frame."

TlalocW

[cbayer]

2. Lol. That's a video that is sure to go viral.