Obama Pressured Pope Benedict to Resign, Suggests Archbishop
An Italian archbishop close to Pope Benedict XVI has claimed that the former pope decided to resign as a result of "tremendous pressures" from the Obama administration. He also pointed to other forces within the Vatican for his friend's decision to give up the papacy.
Archbishop Luigi Negri expressed support to calls for an inquiry into the matter. "It remains shrouded in mystery for now, but I am sure that those responsible will be found out," LifeSiteNews quoted Negri from Rimini 2.0 where the original article was published.
"It is no coincidence that in America, even on the basis of what has been published by Wikileaks, some Catholic groups have asked President Trump to open a commission of inquiry to investigate whether the administration of Barack Obama exerted pressure on Benedict," he said.
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Negri was referring to a letter by a group of American Catholics to President Donald Trump last January stating that "we have reason to believe that a Vatican 'regime change' was engineered by the Obama administration." It was written one year after Wikileaks exposed alleged efforts by the Democratic Party to sway Catholics to vote for Hilary Clinton.
"[W]e find that Pope Benedict XVI abdicated under highly unusual circumstances and was replaced by a pope whose apparent mission is to provide a spiritual component to the radical ideological agenda of the international left," the letter went on. The authors stressed they were not asking for an investigation on the Church but rather on the U.S. government's involvement on the matter.
Negri did not put the blame entirely on the Obama administration for Pope Benedict's resignation, saying "I am certain that the truth will emerge one day showing grave liability both inside and outside the Vatican." The 75-year-old retired archbishop added that when he dies, he will ask St. Peter "exactly about this issue."
Pope Benedict cited his declining health as the reason for his resignation when he made the announcement on Feb. 11, 2013, adding that his decision was freely made and his alone. But observers also remember what he said during his first Mass as pope in 2005: "Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves."
