Was Pope Benedict XVI Forced to Resign?

Almost five years since his momentous resignation from the papacy on February 11, 2013 for health reasons, the undeniable fact is that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI remains in the peak of health and in full control of his faculties.  He has also chosen to remain in the Vatican. He has also chosen to retain the title of “pope”, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

In his last general assembly on February 27, 2013, 2 weeks after announcing his intent to resign, Benedict XVI said that the petrine ministry is “always” and “forever”:

He who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. […] The “always” is also a “forever”—there is no returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord.

And we have to ask: Why did Benedict XVI resign in the first place, if the petrine ministry “is forever”?  Was his resignation out of his own full volition and will? Was it valid in the first place?

New revelations have come to light which give us more information on the circumstances surrounding Benedict’s mysterious resignation.

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Third Secret of Fatima: A “False Church” in the End Times, According to Padre Pio

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Leaked Emails Show Political Plot to Oust Benedict

A group of Catholic leaders cite new evidence uncovered in emails released by WikiLeaks that the conservative Pope Benedict did not actually resign on his own initiative, but was pushed out of the Vatican by a coup that the group of researchers are calling the “Catholic Spring.”

The group of Catholic leaders includes Christopher A. Ferrara, President of The American Catholic Lawyers Association, Michael J. Matt, Editor of The Remnant, David L. Sonnier, LTC US ARMY (Retired), Chris Jackson of Catholics4Trump.com, and Elizabeth Yore, Founder of YoreChildren.

Last January 20, 2017, the group wrote and published a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, formally requesting him to to launch an official investigation into the activities of the billionaire liberal leftist George Soros, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton (and others) who they allege were involved in orchestrating the Catholic Spring that resulted in their goal of “regime change” in the Vatican.

The group included with the letter evidence from various sources to support their claim, including WikiLeaks emails.  WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes secret information, news leaks,  and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Its website, initiated in 2006 by Julian Assange, has a database of 10 million documents in 10 years since its launch.

Soros, Obama and Clinton Behind Benedict XVI Resignation? 

The leaked emails show that Soros, Obama and Clinton used the United States’ diplomatic machinery, political muscle, and financial power to coerce, bribe and blackmail “regime change” in the Roman Catholic Church in order to replace Benedict XVI with Pope Francis – who has since become an unlikely mouthpiece for the international left, stunning Catholics around the world.

“We have reason to believe that a Vatican ‘regime change’ was engineered by the Obama administration,” say the petitioners, in their January 20 letter to President Trump.  “We were alarmed to discover,” their letter notes, “that, during the third year of the first term of the Obama administration your previous opponent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other government officials with whom she associated proposed a Catholic ‘revolution’ in which the final demise of what was left of the Catholic Church in America would be realized.”

Leaked Emails

The Letter first directs attention to the notorious Soros-Clinton-Podesta e-mails disclosed last year (2016) by WikiLeaks, in which John Podesta and other progressives discussed regime change to remove what they described as the “middle ages dictatorship” in the Catholic Church. Podesta was the former chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. He previously served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and Counselor to President Barack Obama.

Podesta revealed in a 2011 e-mail that he and other activists were working to effect a “Catholic Spring” revolution within the Catholic Church, an obvious reference to the disastrous “Arab Spring” coups organized that same year by the Obama-Clinton-Soros team that destabilized the Middle East and brought radical Islamist regimes and terrorist groups to power in the region. The Podesta e-mail is a response to another Soros-funded radical — Sandy Newman, founder of the “progressive” Voices for Progress. Newman had written to Podesta seeking advice on the best way to “plant the seeds of the revolution” in the Catholic Church.

In his e-mail of February 10, 2011 to Podesta (as released by WikiLeaks), Newman writes:

There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church. Is contraceptive coverage an issue around which that could happen. The Bishops will undoubtedly continue the fight.

Newman admits that since he’s not a member of the Catholic Church and doesn’t understand its workings, he doesn’t “qualify to be involved.” But he still very much wants to see the “revolution” go forward. He writes:

Of course, this idea may just reveal my total lack of understanding of the  Catholic church…. Even if the idea isn’t crazy, I don’t qualify to be involved and I have not thought at all about  how one would “plant the seeds of the revolution,” or who would plant them. Just wondering …

John Podesta responded the following day, writing:

We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United. Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up. I’ll discuss with Tara. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the other person to consult.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United are two of the many Soros-funded “Catholic” activist groups that push the “progressive” agenda (abortion “rights,” homosexual “marriage,” LBGT K through12 “education,” women priests, etc.) inside the church.

Call for Investigation

In their letter to President Trump, the group of Catholics leaders write: “After this e-mail discussion, which was never intended to be made public, we 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 Pontificate of Pope Francis has subsequently called into question its own legitimacy on a multitude of occasions.”

“We remain puzzled by the behavior of this ideologically charged Pope, whose mission seems to be one of advancing secular agendas of the left rather than guiding the Catholic Church in Her sacred mission,”they say, expressing the thoughts of millions of Catholics around the world stunned by Pope Francis’s left-wing ideology. “It is simply not the proper role of a Pope to be involved in politics to the point that he is considered to be the leader of the international left.”

International Monetary Transactions with the Vatican were Suspended Days Prior to Benedict XVI’s Resignation

Why were International monetary transactions with the Vatican suspended during the last few days prior to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI? Why were international monetary transactions with the Vatican subsequently resumed on February 12, 2013, just one day after Benedict XVI announced his resignation? Was this pure coincidence?

An investigative article by Italian journalist Maurizio Blondet alleges that Pope Benedict XVI was blackmailed into abdication by forces allied with SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), which had a hand in the shutdown of ATM and bank card services at the Vatican in January of 2013.

According to Blondet:

There was a blackmail of Benedict XVI, coming from who knows where, through SWIFT. The underlying reasons for this have not been clarified, but it is clear that SWIFT has intervened directly in the management of affairs of the Church.

According to Blondet, Italian banking regulators pressured Deutsche Bank, which managed the Vatican’s ATM machines and credit card payment services, to cease their services to the Holy See. He cites the Financial Times, which reported:

Deutsche did what regulators had hoped it would. On January 1 2013, a peak holiday time, there were no ATMs functioning anywhere inside Vatican City. Lines of visitors to the Sistine Chapel were unable to enter unless they paid in cash. “The message sent was simple: if you want to participate in the modern world, you have to adopt modern rules,” says a senior banker at another correspondent bank.

On February 12, 2013, just one day after Benedict XVI announced his intention to abdicate, the Vatican suddenly reached an agreement with a Swiss firm to resume ATM and other bank card transactions.

A Mafia Group of Cardinals Who Plotted Benedict XVI’s Demise

At the launch of his authorized biography last September 2015, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop emeritus of Brussels and one of Pope Francis’ closest advisors, confessed that he was part of a radical secret “mafia” reformist group of cardinals opposed to Benedict XVI.

He called it a “mafia” club that bore the name of “St. Gallen”. The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, to make it “much more modern”, and for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to head it. The group, which also comprised Cardinal Walter Kasper and the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, has been documented in Austen Ivereigh’s biography of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer.

The cardinal is a notorious liberal, once writing a letter to the Belgium government favoring same-sex “marriage” legislation because it ended discrimination against LGBT groups. The cardinal is also known for having once advised the king of Belgium to sign an abortion law in 1990, for telling a victim of clerical sex abuse to keep quiet, and for refusing to forbid pornographic, “educational” materials being used in Belgian Catholic schools.

A Plot to Assassinate Pope Benedict XVI?

In a startling revelation that was extensively covered by news outlets worldwide, Cardinal Paolo Romeo, the archbishop of Palermo in Sicily claimed last November 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI would die within the next 12 months.

Cardinal Romeo reportedly made the startling prediction of the Pope’s death during a trip to China on November 2011. He seemed so sure of the fact that the people he spoke with, including Italian businessmen and Chinese representatives of the Catholic Church, were convinced that he was talking about an assassination attempt.

They were so alarmed by his remarks that they reported them back to the Vatican. The extraordinary comments were written up in a top-secret report, dated Dec 30, 2011, and delivered to Pope Benedict XVI by a senior cardinal, Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a Colombian, in January.

Could it be that the Pope, not for fear of death, but for possible harm to the Church should the plot succceed, decided it was best to resign to remove the assassination threat and advance a peaceful succession?

Is the Papal Resignation Valid?

The Code of Canon Law (332:2) provides that: “If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.”

In this sense, while it is true that the Pope “freely” declared to resign, the circumstances and evidence seem to indicate that to a greater or lesser extent, he was forced by pressure to resign on multiple fronts (assassination threat, suspension of Vatican finances, etc).

While the Pope made the decision to resign in accordance with the powers given to him under the Code of Canon Law, could it be that he made it under the duress of moral violence, which, according to No. 125 of the same Code, invalidates the final decision at the root and renders the act invalid ? It is like one who freely chooses to marry, but if there is hidden stress, fear or deception, the marriage is void for fault, although a clearly “free” commitment has been expressed publicly.

Prophecy of Benedict XVI’s Resignation

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was predicted with incredible accuracy in a prophecy given to the Irish seer Maria Divine Mercy.  In a message dated February 11, 2012, Jesus said to Maria Divine Mercy:

My poor Holy Vicar, Pope Benedict XVI, will be ousted from the Holy See in Rome. Last year, my daughter, I told you of the plot, within the corridors of the Vatican. A plan to destroy My Holy Vicar was devised in secret on the l7th March, 2011, and this will come to fruition, for it has been foretold.

Exactly a year after, on February 11, 2013, the unthinkable happened:  The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning his office effective February 28.  The reason cited was his “old age” and “incapacity” to fulfill his obligations. It must be noted that Pope John Paul II maintained his post all the way until old age, even until the time when he could not visibly fulfill his duties because of Parkinson’s disease.

For a more detailed review of the prophecies and messages given to Maria Divine Mercy, read this article.

Two Popes in the End Times

In a message dated April 12, 2012, Jesus said that His Second Coming will happen very soon, and that Benedict XVI was the last true pope on earth:

My beloved Pope Benedict XVI is the last true pope on this Earth…I must warn you that many new self-proclaimed prophets will now emerge, who will contradict My Holy Word given to you, the end time true prophet…They, My daughter, are being sent to prepare God’s children to accept the next pope, who comes after My beloved Vicar, Pope Benedict. This pope may be elected by members within the Catholic Church, but he will be the false prophet. His electors are wolves in sheep’s clothing and are members of the secret Masonic and evil group led by Satan. This is how Satan will try to destroy My Church.

We recall here the remarkably accurate prophecy of the popes by St. Malachy. Archbishop Ganswin, papal secretary to both Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, dramatically brought the Church’s attention back this ancient prophecy, which predicted that Benedict XVI will be the second-to-the-last pope prior to the return of Jesus Christ.

Various reputable prophecies have remarkably predicted that in the end times, there will be the unique situation of two popes wearing the crown of St. Peter.  Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, one of the greatest mystics of the Church, said that she saw the “special relationship” between two popes in the end times.  One of these popes would be a false pope who would give rise to a false church of darkness.  It is interesting to note that Anne Catherine Emmerich received this prophecy on May 13, 1820 – exactly 97 years prior to the first apparition of Our Lady in Fatima.

“I saw also the relationship between the two popes. . . I saw how baleful (harmful) would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome). The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness…”

In a message dated July 22, 2013, the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed to Maria Divine Mercy the content of the unrevealed part of the third secret of Fatima:

The last secret of Fatima still remains unknown to God’s children…Very few within the Church are privy to this. Now, the next part of the final secret of Fatima must be revealed, so that I can warn humanity of the consequences of ignoring my intervention to help save souls…The Church has been infested, from the inside, by enemies of God…

The details, which I revealed, are that there would be two men wearing the Crown of Peter in the end times. One will suffer because of lies which have been created to discredit him and which will render him a virtual prisoner.

The other one elected will bring about the destruction, not only of the Catholic Church, but of all churches which honour my Father and who accept the Teachings of my Son, Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world.

Amid the tumult and confusion that we find the Church today, we turn to Our Lady with arms outstretched in prayer, holding on to her firm promise that “in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.

Paul Simeon, Veritas Vincit