Pope Benedict resigned 'because God told me to do it'

A "mystical experience" during a dialogue with God convinced Pope Emeritus Benedict to resign as head of the Roman Catholic Church earlier this year, he has said. "God told me to do it," the 86-year-old former pontiff told a friend, six months after his decision to step down shocked the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. God had implanted in his heart the "absolute desire" to resign and to devote himself to a life of prayer and reflection, Benedict told the anonymous confidante, according to Zenit, a Rome-based Catholic news agency. "It was not because of any type of apparition or phenomenon of that sort," he said, but instead the result of a "mystical experience" received during "a direct rapport with the Lord".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/10256890/Pope-Benedict-resigned-because-God-told-me-to-do-it.html