VATICAN CITY
Mercury News
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY—The Vatican is playing down an Australian cardinal’s comments that Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign was “slightly destabilizing,” saying cardinals are not media savvy.
Cardinal George Pell told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the pope “was well aware that this was a break with tradition, slightly destabilizing.” The comments were interpreted by the Italian media as unusual criticism of the pope.
But in the interview, Pell also seems at pains to defend the pope, saying: “He felt that because of his weakness and sickness … that he just didn’t have the strength to lead the church.”
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