Pope Francis remembers that they wanted to use it to block the election of Benedict XVI

“He was my candidate,” the Pope responds when asked about the election of Joseph Ratzinger, specifying that he decided to choose him because “he was the only one who at that time could be pope.”

“After the revolution of John Paul II, who had been a dynamic pontiff, very active, with initiative, who traveled… there was a need for a pope who maintained a healthy balance, a transitional pope,” he added.

Pope Francis then points out that “if they had chosen someone like me, who makes a lot of trouble, I would not have been able to do anything. At that time, it would not have been possible. I left happy. Benedict XVI was a man who accompanied the new style. And it wasn’t easy for him, huh? He encountered a lot of resistance within the Vatican.”