Vatican City, Aug 27, 2013 / 07:59 am
The retired pontiff's personal secretary said that the recent and widely circulated news story claiming that Benedict XVI stepped down after having a "mystical experience" is false.
"It was invented from the alpha to the omega,"Archbishop Georg Gänswein said Aug. 25.
"There is nothing true in this article," he added in an interview with journalist Alessandra Buzzetti on Italian television channel Tg5.
Rome-based Catholic news outlet "Zenit" had reported last week that Benedict XVI resigned after having a mystical experience in which God told him to do so.