In his latest memoir, "The Successor: My Memories of Benedict XVI," Pope Francis revealed that "political maneuvers" were used to sway votes during the two most recent Papal Conclaves that elected him and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

In that book, the Argentinian reflected on his relationship with the late conservative German pope and touched on his settling a score with his predecessor's aide. It was written as a conversation with the correspondent for Spain's ABC daily, Javier Martínez-Brocal, according to the Associated Press.

The pope also revealed previously confidential details about the 2005 Papal conclave right after Pope John Paul II (now Saint John Paul II)'s passing. It elected the conservative Benedict into the Papacy. As for why he was allowed to reveal such details, Pope Francis noted that he was "allowed to deviate from the cardinals' oath of secrecy because he is pope."

In the book, the pope acknowledged that he was "used" by cardinals who wanted to block the election of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict. Those Cardinals managed to sway 40 out of 115 other cardinals to vote for the then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who would become Pope Francis.

The pope elaborated that they did not necessarily want him to be the next pope but wanted to force a compromise candidate after knocking Ratzinger out of the running. They failed as the German would become Pope Benedict XVI.

"They told me afterward that they didn't want a 'foreign' pope," - in other words, a non-Italian one," Pope Francis admitted. Despite being Argentinian, he is of Italian descent. Pope Francis also admitted that he voted for Ratzinger after this.

Pope Francis Says Pope Benedict XVI's Top Aide Was Using the Late Pope

Also in that book, Pope Benedict talked about the time when Pope Benedict XVI's own secretary was using his death to push a new book. The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires noted that Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the private secretary of the late German pope, published his book about Benedict on the day of the late pope's funeral.

According to American Magazine, Pope Francis noted in the book that he "felt pain" that his predecessor and friend "was being used" in this way as the archbishop released excerpts from his book around the time of the German pope's death. Pope Francis added that the publication of the book at that time was "a lack of nobility and of humanity."

Pope Francis Praises Pope Benedict XVI for Having the 'Courage to Resign'

Pope Francis was all praise on his predecessor's resignation from the Papacy.

"He was a man who had the courage to resign and, from that moment on, he continued to accompany the church and his successor," he said. "Benedict and I had a very deep relationship and I want it to be known, I want it to be known without intermediaries."

The Argentinian pope acknowledged that he, a liberal, often had disagreements with Benedict.

"Sometimes I would raise an issue; sometimes Benedict did. 'I am concerned about this problem,' one would say to the other," he said.

The German's resignation led to the Papal Conclave that elected Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio into the Papacy. Their relationship was featured in the Netflix film "The Two Popes."

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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