VATICAN CITY
AFP
Vatican City — Pope emeritus Benedict XVI on Wednesday rejected as “simply absurd” the notions that his resignation might not be valid and that the Vatican hierarchy was now divided between loyalty to him and to Pope Francis.
“There is no doubt at all on the validity of my renunciation,” Benedict said in an unprecedented letter published in the La Stampa daily, after it had written to him with questions about when he stepped down in 2013.
“The only condition for validity is that the decision be taken in full freedom. Speculation over an invalid renunciation is simply absurd,” said Benedict XVI, whose Latin title is now “pontifex emeritus”.
Benedict became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign in February last year, when he said he could no longer carry on because of his declining health.
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