Pope Francis: Partisans have used Benedict XVI’s death ‘to serve their own interests’

Rome, Italy, Feb 5, 2023 / 11:35 am Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s death was used by people in a self-serving way, Pope Francis said aboard the papal plane returning from South Sudan on Sunday. “I think Benedict’s death was instrumentalized by people who want to serve their own interests,” he said during an in-flight press conference Feb. 5. People who instrumentalize such a good and holy person, Francis added, are partisans and unethical. There is a widespread tendency to make political parties out of theological positions, he said. “I leave it alone. These things will fall on their own, or if they don’t fall they will move on as has happened so many times in the history of the Church.” Pope Francis’ comments were made aboard the papal plane from Juba, South Sudan, to Rome, at the end of a six-day trip that also included nearly four days in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a papal first, the in-flight press conference included the participation of the pope’s Anglican counterpart, …