Benedict XVI: ‘I resigned because of the Jet Lag!’

Bizarre claims in new Interview

Benedict XVI on why he resigned:

‘I couldn’t take the Jet Lag I would get from traveling to World Youth Day!’

The bizarre spectacle that is the aftermath of Benedict XVI’s resignation first announced on Feb. 11, 2013, continues unabated. After recent absurd claims that Benedict XVI had not “fully” resigned from the papacy but was still a “contemplative member” of a “two-tier” Petrine office, today we are getting word that the main reason Benedict decided to throw in the towel was the stressful travel to World Youth Day in Rio. Riiight.

In an exclusive interview conducted by Elio Guerriero and published Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, by the Italian La Repubblica, the “Pope Emeritus”, Joseph Ratzinger, claims that in 2013 he was facing numerous commitments he did not think himself capable of fulfilling. Asked to elaborate on what those commitments were, Benedict XVI says:

That’s it: The ultimate reason he took the highly unusual step of resigning from the “papacy” was because he didn’t think he could make the 12-hour flight from Rome to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day 2013. And since we didn’t want to appear on a television screen or skip the event altogether, we just decided to do the unthinkable and throw in the towel entirely and have everyone spend a fortune to organize a conclave and everything a “papal” election entails, before, during, and after the process, and all of that in the middle of the “Year of Faith”. That’s completely normal, right?

Sorry, not convincing.

But the fun continues, as Ratzinger elaborates further in the interview.

And thus the greatest mystery of our recent times has finally been revealed: It was all due to the jet lag!

What? You don’t buy it? You don’t want to believe that we’ve had to listen to 3+ years of Francis drivel because Ratzinger was too tired to fly to Rio?

Look, bizarre Ratzinger claims about his resignation are nothing new. Remember what he told Vaticanist Andrea Tornielli as the reason he decided to retain the white cassock after his time as “Pope”:

Yes, you see, the whole reason we have a “Pope Emeritus” wearing white in the Vatican today is that three years ago they couldn’t find a black cassock for the poor fellow, and of course it is just not practical to have anyone refer to him as “Cardinal Ratzinger” (as he was known from 1977-2005), so why not come up with “Pope Emeritus Benedict” instead? That makes things so much easier! The long-term effects of jet lag are just absolutely amazing.

Folks, something is really fishy here, and there is no question that this latest claim that Benedict resigned because of World Youth Day will add more fuel to the fire of the Resignationists, those who believe Benedict’s resignation was invalid and he is actually the legitimate Pope even now. These poor souls are rightly alarmed about the open apostasy of his successor Francis but somehow turn a blind eye to the same apostasy committed much more sneakily by Benedict XVI himself.

Wait till Antonio Socci and “Fr.” Paul Kramer get wind of this — they will eat this up. That the real reason for Ratzinger’s resignation is a different one, seems obvious. But what’s even more certain is that Ratzinger was never a true Pope, not for one instant, as he is not a Catholic but a heretic, and he is not even a valid bishop. The man denies the Resurrection, Papal Primacy, and original sin. Permitting Mass to be offered according to the 1962 Missal doesn’t erase that.

On September 8, a new interview book with Benedict XVI will be released in Italy (English version: Last Testament: In His Own Words; publication date: November 3), and we can surmise it will likewise contain a few more bombshells and head scratchers.

Speaking of head scratchers: You may recall that twice in the last five years Benedict XVI has made odd, perhaps cryptic, remarks about feeling “safe” in the Vatican around the “cardinals” and “Pope” Francis:

• May 21, 2012 to “cardinals”: “…you are my friends and I feel at home with you, I feel safe in this company of great friends, who are here with me and all together with the Lord” (source)
• June 28, 2016 to Francis: “More than the beauty found in the Vatican Gardens, your goodness is the place where I live; I feel protected” (source)

So he feels “safe” and “protected”. Safe and protected from what? From jet lag? It may be doubted.

By the way, it is not surprising that Ratzinger would speak of his resignation as something he perceived as a “duty”, for what else was he going to say? That it was just an option he felt like taking? That wouldn’t go over very well. No, “duty” makes it sound much better because doing your duty is an act of virtue.

In all this insanity, just remember that we finally now have the reason for it all:

It was the jet lag, stupid!