Benedict Breaks Silence With Letter To Atheist; Atheist Denies Existence Of Letter

VATICAN–Breaking his silence for the first time since receiving a letter from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in which Benedict defended himself against accusations that he tried to conceal sex abuse cases, renowned Italian atheist and mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi asked reporters today what they were talking about. In a letter written to media outlets around Rome this morning, Odifreddi not only denied ever receiving a response to his claim that theology was “science fiction,”  but also went on to deny that such a rebuttal could actually ever exist. “There is no paper,” Odifreddi wrote in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “And to the day I die, I shall deny that Benedict has ever written me this supposed, magical, fairy tale correspondence. I understand why Catholics would like to believe that a gentle, kind, and loving Pope has come out and defended himself, but the fact is that no such letter exists. You can trust me…I’m a mathematician.”