{"id":14376,"date":"2013-08-21T18:35:38","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T22:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/?p=14376"},"modified":"2013-08-26T17:27:45","modified_gmt":"2013-08-26T21:27:45","slug":"god-told-me-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2013\/08\/god-told-me-to\/","title":{"rendered":"“God told me to”"},"content":{"rendered":"

VATICAN CITY \u2014 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has reportedly said that he retired from the papacy after a \u201cmystical experience\u201d and because \u201cGod told me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news<\/a> comes from an anonymous source who visited the former pope a week ago, according to the Zenit news agency.<\/p>\n

Asked why he resigned, the pope emeritus said, \u201cGod told me to,\u201d but added that he had not received any kind of apparition or similar phenomenon. Rather, it was a \u201cmystical experience\u201d in which the Lord planted a seed of \u201cabsolute desire\u201d in his heart \u201cto remain alone with him, secluded in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the source, this mystical experience has lasted throughout these past months, increasing \u201cmore and more\u201d his longing for a unique and direct relationship with the Lord. It has not been an \u201cescape\u201d from the world, he reportedly said, but a means of seeking \u201crefuge in God and living in his love.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that the more he sees of the \u201ccharisma\u201d of his successor, Pope Francis, the more he realizes that his decision to resign the papacy was \u201cthe will of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite living a cloistered life in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens, Benedict XVI does occasionally receive visitors privately. A few weeks ago, a seminarian at the North American College was surprised to be invited to the pope emeritus\u2019 quarters to have a private conversation.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Although the source of last week\u2019s meeting is anonymous, various Vatican officials<\/a> have confirmed the veracity of his remarks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well now that the news from an anonymous source has been verified by anonymous Vatican sources this story has to be as solid as information in Wikipedia!<\/p>\n

Most of the headlines have been rather straight-forward on this story. Although MSN offers Benedict says he left pope gig at request of former boss (God)<\/a><\/p>\n

The directive supposedly went down during a \u201cmystical experience\u201d that lasted for months. And to clarify, Benedict didn\u2019t actually hear God\u2019s thunderous, Charlton Heston-like baritone speaking to him, but says God inspired an \u201cabsolute desire\u201d in him to retire to a life of prayer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah that is some solid religion reporting and I guess the longest mystical experience ever.<\/p>\n

I must admit I expected to see a headline like \u201cEx-Pope Benedict says God gave me a pink slip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Archbishop Georg Ganswein has flatly denied a widely circulated report that Pope Benedict XVI resigned after a mystical experience that convinced him God wanted him to step down.<\/p>\n

The report, originally circulated by the Zenit news agency, quoted an unnamed source as saying that the Pope-emeritus had explained his resignation during a recent private meeting. The source quoted the retired Pope as saying that he resigned because \u201cGod wanted me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archbishop Ganswein told an Italian television audience that the entire story was baseless. \u201cIt was invented from alpha to omega,\u201d he said. (source)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VATICAN CITY \u2014 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has reportedly said that he retired from the papacy after a \u201cmystical experience\u201d and because \u201cGod told me to.\u201d The news comes from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14386,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14376\/revisions\/14386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}