VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has admitted that it altered a photo sent to the media of a letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis' theological background. The manipulation changed the meaning of the image.
The Vatican's communications office released the photo to mark Francis' five-year anniversary.
In the part of the letter that is legible, Benedict praises a new volume of books on the theology of Francis as evidence of the "foolish prejudice" of critics who say Francis has no theological heft and represents a rupture from Benedict's papacy.
The Vatican admitted Thursday that it blurred the two final lines of the page where Benedict begins to explain that he didn't read the books and cannot contribute a theological assessment of Francis as requested because he has other projects.
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