Benedict emerges to defend his record on abuse

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has emerged from his self-imposed silence inside the Vatican walls to publish a letter to a prominent Italian atheist defending his record on sexually abusive priests and discussing topics from evolution to theology to the figure of Jesus Christ.

Excerpts were published by La Repubblica the same newspaper which two weeks ago published a similar letter from Pope Francis to its own atheist publisher.

The letters indicate that the two men — who live across the Vatican gardens from one another — are pursuing a campaign to engage non-believers. It is a melding of papacies past and present that has no precedent and signals that the popes — while very different in style, personality and priorities — are of the same mind on certain issues.