"What did he know, and when did he know it?"

I think a little too much is being made by some about the HuffPo interview with Cardinal Bertone.
Yes, he says he "knew" of Pope Bendict's abdication many months ahead of time, and yes, he says he remonstrated with the Holy Father about what he needed to do before he "sign[ed] things over to Pope Francis,"as if that were an eventuality that he knew as a certainty before it could have officially "happened."

But don't many of us say, "I KNEW that was gonna happen!" when what we mean is we were sure/guessed/had a premonition/feared/hoped expectantly?

If Benedict had discussed things with friends, advisors, even before resolving to do the thing, that is only natural.

And Bertone could very easily have actually said, "don't you want to do/finish thus and such before signing things over to the next guy? "but speaking of it in retrospect say, " before signing things over to Bergoglio?" (He simply could NOT have known Francis would become, well... "Francis," ahead of time.)