Ecumenism is surging and will thrive in the Tribulation period which looms.
That so called artwork is so offensive. He should have never even touched it. He should have asked that it be removed immediately.
It belittles the price Jesus paid.
I think they wanted Wojtyla to step down to begin the precedent without having too abrupt a change. They got their wish with Ratzinger - perhaps with pressure, perhaps not.
After Bergoglio the Marxist does his future total upheaval alluded to by Kung, and if Ratzinger was still among the living, then if Bergoglio were to step down one could have the beginnings of that same council with three sitting {non-valid] popes.
If pressure was indeed applied to Ratzinger, here is an article that may be of interest to you:
"Plot Against Benedict XVI, He will die in 12 months"
Be careful not to give the religious world the benefit of the doubt and thus fall prey to the "good cop, bad cop" Kabuki theater dialectic in that realm.
While Bergoglio's heresies are easily seen, Ratzinger and Muller have denied the Resurrection of Christ in their writings. Ratzinger's writings were placed by the Holy Office on The Index of prohibited works in the 1950's as being suspect of heresy, he had the original problem with the meaning of the word "is" at Vatican-2, ("the Mystical Body of Christ SUBSISTS IN the Catholic Church" versus the correct "the Mystical Body of Christ IS the Catholic Church") and he also denies the resurrection of the human body for the just at the Last Judgment: they will merely "be remembered in a special way in the mind of God".
Deniers of the Resurrection: Walter Kasper, Gerhard Müller, Joseph Ratzinger
From a 1969 brief bio, "Joseph RATZINGER: German, age 45, dogmatic theology, ecumenism; previously suspect [of heresy] by the Holy Office; member of the Faith and Ecumenism Commission; outstanding work in collaboration with Karl Rahner: Primacy and Episcopate."
"Coat and Tie" Rahner and Ratzinger at Vatican-2