Pope Francis has said he inherited a “large white box” full of documents concerning the “most difficult and painful” scandals within the Catholic Church.
The pontiff makes the revelation in the much-anticipated autobiography, Hope, published on Tuesday.
Following Benedict XVI’s departure in 2013, Francis was elected pope, placing the Argentinean in the almost unprecedented position of having an in-person handover when he took office.
Pope Francis writes that he visited Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, the papal vacation palace south of Rome, shortly after he was elected pope.
“He gave me a large white box,” Francis writes. “‘Everything is in here’, he told me. ‘Documents relating to the most difficult and painful situations. Cases of abuse, corruption, dark dealings, wrongdoings.’”
Benedict then told him: “I have arrived this far, taken these actions, removed these people. Now it’s your turn.”
Pope Francis then writes: “I have continued along his path.”
The Pope does not, however, reveal the contents of the box.
Benedict resigned in February 2013, citing his ailing health. He became the first pope to resign in almost 600 years. The church’s sexual abuse scandals marred the papacy of the highly conservative pope, who died in December 2022.
The last year of Benedict’s tenure was also tarnished by the “Vatileaks” scandal, which exposed allegations of corruption, conflict and financial mismanagement.
Pope Francis writes that the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, particularly the effort to impose international accounting and budgeting standards on its finances, have been the most difficult task of his papacy and one that generated “the greatest resistance to change”.
“I have been summoned to a battle,” he writes.
He also blasted traditionalist Catholic priests as rigid and potentially mentally unstable. “This rigidity is often accompanied by elegant and costly tailoring, lace, fancy trimmings, rochets. Not a taste for tradition but clerical ostentation,” he writes. “These ways of dressing up sometimes conceal mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioural difficulties, a personal problem that may be exploited.”
The pontiff strongly defends his decision to authorise a sweeping trial of 10 people, including a cardinal, accused of alleged financial misconduct related to an investment in a London property. The trial resulted in several convictions, but also caused the Holy See reputational harm, following questions about whether the defendants received a fair trial and Francis’ own role in the saga.
“The decisions that I made in that respect were not easy, I was sure there would be problems, but I also know that the truth must never be hidden and being opaque is always the worst choice,” he writes.
Mondadori, the book’s Italian publisher, said the new volume was originally planned by Francis to be released after his death. But the pope decided it should instead be published during the ongoing Catholic Holy Year, which is also focusing on the theme of hope.
Over the 303-page volume, the pope reviews his life growing up in Buenos Aires, his career as a bishop in Argentina, and some of the decisions he has made as leader of the global Church. It is the second of two books in two years by the pope, following a memoir released in March 2024.
Elsewhere in the book, Francis strongly defends a 2024 decision to allow priests to offer blessings for same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis. That decision sparked widespread debate in the Church, with bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, refusing to let their priests implement it.
“It is the people who are blessed, not the relationships,” he states. “Everyone in the Church is invited [for a blessing], including people who are divorced, including people who are homosexual, including people who are transgender.”
“Homosexuality is not a crime, it is a human fact,” Francis says.
The pontiff, who turned 88 last month and asked an aide to read a major speech last week due to a cold, also says he feels healthy and has no plans to resign.
“I am well,” Francis says. “The reality is, quite simply, that I am old.”
The pope, who now often uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain, says: “The Church is governed using the head and the heart, not the legs.”
Francis has suffered from influenza and related problems several times in the past two years. He also had surgery in 2021 to address a painful condition called diverticulitis, and again in 2023 to repair a hernia.
“Each time a pope takes ill, the winds of a conclave always feel as if they are blowing,” Francis states in the book, referring to the secret meeting of Catholic cardinals that will one day elect the next pontiff.
“The reality is that even during the days of surgery I never thought of resigning,” he says.
“Each time a pope takes ill, the winds of a conclave always feel as if they are blowing,” Francis states in the book, referring to the secret meeting of Catholic cardinals that will one day elect the next pontiff.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
