Pope Francis has said he inherited a “large white box” stuffed with documents in regards to the “most difficult and painful” scandals inside the Catholic Church.
The pontiff makes the revelation within the much-anticipated autobiography, Hope, published on Tuesday.
Following Benedict XVI’s departure in 2013, Francis was elected pope, placing the Argentinean in the virtually unprecedented position of getting an in-person handover when he took office.
Pope Francis writes that he visited Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, the papal vacation palace south of Rome, shortly after he was elected pope.
“He gave me a big white box,” Francis writes. “‘Everything is in here’, he told me. ‘Documents referring to probably the most difficult and painful situations. Cases of abuse, corruption, dark dealings, wrongdoings.’”
Benedict then told him: “I actually have arrived this far, taken these actions, removed these people. Now it’s your turn.”
Pope Francis then writes: “I actually have continued along his path.”
The Pope doesn’t, nonetheless, reveal the contents of the box.
Benedict resigned in February 2013, citing his ailing health. He became the primary pope to resign in almost 600 years. The church’s sexual abuse scandals marred the papacy of the highly conservative pope, who died in December 2022.
The last 12 months of Benedict’s tenure was also tarnished by the “Vatileaks” scandal, which exposed allegations of corruption, conflict and financial mismanagement.
Pope Francis writes that the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, particularly the hassle to impose international accounting and budgeting standards on its funds, have been probably the most difficult task of his papacy and one which generated “the best resistance to alter”.
“I actually have been summoned to a battle,” he writes.
He also blasted traditionalist Catholic priests as rigid and potentially mentally unstable. “This rigidity is usually accompanied by elegant and dear tailoring, lace, fancy trimmings, rochets. Not a taste for tradition but clerical ostentation,” he writes. “These ways of dressing up sometimes conceal mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioural difficulties, a private problem that could be exploited.”
The pontiff strongly defends his decision to authorise a sweeping trial of 10 people, including a cardinal, accused of alleged financial misconduct related to an investment in a London property. The trial resulted in several convictions, but in addition caused the Holy See reputational harm, following questions on whether the defendants received a good trial and Francis’ own role within the saga.
“The decisions that I made in that respect were demanding, I used to be sure there could be problems, but I also know that the reality must not ever be hidden and being opaque is at all times the worst alternative,” he writes.
Mondadori, the book’s Italian publisher, said the brand new volume was originally planned by Francis to be released after his death. But the pope decided it should as a substitute be published throughout the ongoing Catholic Holy Year, which can also be specializing in the theme of hope.
Over the 303-page volume, the pope reviews his life growing up in Buenos Aires, his profession as a bishop in Argentina, and a few of the decisions he has made as leader of the worldwide Church. It is the second of two books in two years by the pope, following a memoir released in March 2024.
Elsewhere within the book, Francis strongly defends a 2024 decision to permit priests to supply blessings for same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis. That decision sparked widespread debate within the Church, with bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, refusing to let their priests implement it.
“It is the people who find themselves blessed, not the relationships,” he states. “Everyone within the Church is invited [for a blessing], including people who find themselves divorced, including people who find themselves homosexual, including people who find themselves transgender.”
“Homosexuality just isn’t a criminal offense, it’s a human fact,” Francis says.
The pontiff, who turned 88 last month and asked an aide to read a serious speech last week as a result of a chilly, also says he feels healthy and has no plans to resign.
“I’m well,” Francis says. “The reality is, quite simply, that I’m old.”
The pope, who now often uses a wheelchair as a result of knee and back pain, says: “The Church is governed using the pinnacle and the center, not the legs.”
Francis has suffered from influenza and related problems several times up to now two years. He also had surgery in 2021 to handle a painful condition called diverticulitis, and again in 2023 to repair a hernia.
“Each time a pope takes sick, the winds of a conclave at all times feel as in the event that they are blowing,” Francis states within the book, referring to the key meeting of Catholic cardinals that may sooner or later elect the following pontiff.
“The reality is that even throughout the days of surgery I never considered resigning,” he says.
“Each time a pope takes sick, the winds of a conclave at all times feel as in the event that they are blowing,” Francis states within the book, referring to the key meeting of Catholic cardinals that may sooner or later elect the following pontiff.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
