Interesting, from a friend of mine who is in the know about these things:

Thanks, ___.
I have a lot of respect for Benedict, but in some ways he’s living in an era of 50 years ago. I read in the past few days that he just shook up a number of Curia positions. The speculation is that they have not kept him properly informed, etc. As his letter says, this thing has terribly pained him. He did not consult as he should have and his advisors did him a grave injustice - partly because of their incompetence and lack of savy about how to access pertinent info. This is sad and a terrible reflection on the Vatican. Thanks for sending this.