In what can only be read as a rebuke to certain traditionalists, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has stated that he freely and validly resigned last year from the papacy.
“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry,” he told the Italian daily, La Stampa.
He said any “speculations” or doubts surrounding the validity of his resignation were “simply absurd”.
A traditionalist Italian journalist, Antonio Socci, recently questioned the canonical validity of Benedict XVI's historic resignation, saying he had probably been forced to step down against to his will.