LaNuovabq.it (3 April) writes that Francis's account of the 2005 conclave doesn't correspond to the truth.
Francis claims that he was "used" by cardinals who wanted to block the election of Cardinal Ratzinger, and that he opened the way for Ratzinger's election by telling Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos that he wouldn't accept an election, so that the 40 votes he had received went to Ratzinger, who was then elected.
In Francis's version, his withdrawal was decisive in breaking the deadlock and leading to Ratzinger's election.
According to what Lucio Brunelli, a partisan of Francis, wrote about the 2005 conclave, Bergoglio did indeed receive 40 votes on the third ballot.
However, according to an anonymous cardinal who broke his conclave oath and whose diary was published by Brunelli, on the fourth ballot the votes for Bergoglio did not go to zero, as an "announced" withdrawal of a candidate would have done. There were still 26 votes for Bergoglio and all the others for Ratzinger.
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