{"id":29584,"date":"2013-08-22T18:30:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T14:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/?p=29584"},"modified":"2013-08-22T18:30:37","modified_gmt":"2013-08-22T14:30:37","slug":"pope-benedict-says-he-resigned-after-god-told-me-to-in-mystical-experience-and-on-seeing-pope-francis-he-realised-it-was-what-god-wanted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/?p=29584","title":{"rendered":"Pope Benedict says he resigned after ‘God told me to in mystical experience’ and on seeing Pope Francis he realised it was ‘what God wanted’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pope<\/a>Former Pope Benedict has said he resigned after ‘God told me to’ during what he called a ‘mystical experience’, a Catholic news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Benedict, whose formal title is now Pope Emeritus, announced his shock resignation in February and became the first pontiff to step down in 600 years.<\/p>\n

‘God told me to do it,’ the Zenith agency quoted Benedict as saying to a visitor to the convent in the Vatican gardens where he is living out his retirement in near isolation.<\/p>\n

According to the agency, Benedict told his visitor, who asked to remain anonymous, that God did not speak to him in a vision but in what the former pope called ‘a mystical experience’.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He was succeeded by Pope Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who was elected as the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.<\/p>\n

According to the Rome-based Zenith, Benedict told his visitor that the more he observes the way Francis carries out his papal duties, the more he realised the choice was ‘wanted by God’.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday, Benedict spent a day at the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, to escape the heat of the capital.<\/p>\n

The visit indicated that the 86-year-old ex pope\u2019s health was good enough for him to travel. There had been media reports that since his resignation, Benedict\u2019s health had deteriorated dramatically.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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