Pope Benedict XVI waves in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican in December 2012. Benedict, 85, announced on Monday, February 11, that he will resign at the end of February "because of advanced age." The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415.
Rome (CNN) -- The Vatican sought Saturday to tamp down rumors involving sex, money and gay priests that have been swirling in the Italian media and have been linked by some to Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign.
The strongly-worded denial came on the eve of the pope's last Angelus blessing, expected to draw huge crowds of the faithful, before he stands down on Thursday.
Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said it was "deplorable" that as the time for the Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope approaches, a rash of "often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories" has appeared.
Such unfounded stories "cause serious damage to persons and institutions," he said, and are an attempt to influence the cardinals' free will in the election "through public opinion."
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Bertone did not address the specific claims that were first published in La Repubblica, the country's largest circulation daily newspaper, on Thursday and Friday.
The newspaper stories center on an investigation last year by three cardinals into a scandal involving leaks from the Vatican.
La Repubblica, citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, alleged that the investigation revealed a series of scandals involving sex, money and power that touch cardinals, priests and lay people that work in the Vatican.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi declined to comment on La Repubblica's article in a media briefing on Thursday.
CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen, also a correspondent with the National Catholic Reporter, suggested in a piece written Friday that unsourced speculation about a shadowy "gay lobby" within the Vatican should be taken with a grain of salt.
But, he said, while he doesn't know for sure if the three cardinals did investigate networks based on sexual orientation, "frankly, it would be a little surprising if they hadn't" -- given past scandals that have become public concerning clergy involved in homosexual activities.
The pope may well have been worn down by the "cumulative impact of the various meltdowns over the last eight years," Allen said.
"However," he added, "it's probably a stretch to draw a straight line between all of this and Benedict's resignation. For the most part, one has to take the pope at his word: He's stepping aside because he's old and tired, not because of any particular crisis."
The pontiff will leave office at 8 p.m. on February 28, two-and-a-half weeks after he shocked the Roman Catholic world by announcing his resignation.
The Vatican has said a new pope will be in place for the Church's Easter celebrations on March 31.
Benedict on Saturday concluded a week-long spiritual retreat, held to mark the Lenten period.
Addressing the clergy who had joined him, he thanked them "not only for this week, but for these past eight years that you have carried with me -- with great skill, affection, love and faith -- the weight of the Petrine ministry," referring to the papacy.
Benedict also met with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday, an encounter described by the Vatican as "particularly warm and cordial."
The pontiff is considering changing the Vatican constitution to allow a vote for his successor to begin before March 15, Lombardi said Wednesday.
Existing rules say the Roman Catholic Church's cardinals should start voting on a replacement from 15 to 20 days after the papal throne becomes vacant. With Benedict due to depart on February 28, the cardinals' conclave ordinarily would start no sooner than March 15.
But Lombardi has said that because Benedict was leaving the papacy through resignation rather than death, the Vatican would explore the possibility of selecting a new pope sooner than normally prescribed.
The so-called "Vatileaks" scandal last year led to the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, being convicted on charges of leaking private papers from the Vatican in a high-profile trial and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Although Gabriele was pardoned weeks later by the pope, the whole affair -- which revealed claims of corruption in the church's hierarchy -- was damaging to the Vatican's reputation.
The latest media allegations, despite the strenuous Vatican denials, may add to the pressure for reform.
CNN's Hada Messia and Ben Wedeman reported from Rome, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London.
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Joseph Ratzinger, who became the 265th pope in 2005, poses for a photo while a German air force assistant in 1943.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, right, poses for a picture in Vatican City in June 1977 with fellow cardinals, from left, Cardinal Gappi, Cardinal Tomazek, Cardinal Gantin and Cardinal Benelli. Ratzinger was named cardinal-priest of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino by Pope Paul VI in June 1977.
Ratzinger, who was serving as cardinal-priest of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino, visits Madrid in 1989.
Ratzinger fills in for Pope John Paul II during the Easter Vigil service in Saint Peter's Basilica in March 2005.
Newly elected as pope, Benedict XVI gestures to the crowd in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on April 19, 2005.
Benedict meets Prince Albert II of Monaco at the pope's private library in Vatican City in December 2005.
Benedict kisses the altar before addressing the crowds at Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa, Poland, in May 2006.
Benedict waves from under an umbrella as he arrives to lead his weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican in October 2007.
Benedict speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in April 2008.
Benedict celebrates a Mass at the end of a synod of Catholic bishops in October 2008 at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
Benedict attends a screening of a movie about his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, on October 16, 2008, in Vatican City during celebrations of the 30th anniversary of John Paul's election as pontiff.
Benedict kneels as he prays in front of Pope John XXIII's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on October 28, 2008, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of John's election to the papacy.
Benedict talks with bishops in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican after his weekly general address in November 2009.
Benedict blesses pilgrims as he arrives in St. Peter's Square in his popemobile in March 2010 to meet with young people from Rome and the Lazio region in preparation for World Youth Day.
The pope salutes from his popemobile in St. Peter's Square in March 2010.
Benedict prepares to celebrate Mass at San Giovanni della Croce parish in Rome in March 2010.
Benedict prays on Good Friday in April 2010 at the Roman Colosseum.
Benedict celebrates an open-air Mass in the Terreiro do Paco in Lisbon, Portugal, in May 2010.
Benedict prepares to celebrate a Mass for 70,000 people in September 2011 in Berlin.
Benedict waves to the crowd gathered at the Colosseum in Rome during the Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday in April 2012.
A gust of wind blows Benedict's collar into his face in September 2012 during his weekly address in Saint Peter's Square.
Benedict speaks with Nikolaus Schneider, praeses of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, before a Mass at the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, Germany, in September 2011.
Benedict waves to pilgrims as he arrives at St. Peter's Square for his weekly address in October 2012.
Benedict looks at a chess game with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara during a private audience in November 2012 at the Vatican.
Benedict arrives to lead the Vesper prayer with members of Rome's universities in December 2012 at St. Peter's Basilica.
Benedict clicks on a tablet to send his first tweet from his account @pontifex at the Vatican in December 2012.
Benedict celebrates Mass during a visit to San Patrizio al Colle Prenestino parish on the outskirts of Rome in December 2012.
Benedict blesses members of the ecumenical Christian community of Taize, a group based in Taize, France, in St. Peter's Square in December 2012.
Benedict, accompanied by Grand Master Matthew Festing of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, right, shakes hands with a woman after the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the 900th anniversary of the Order of the Knights of Malta on February 9, 2013, at the Vatican.
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