The editor of the Vatican's magazine for women denied that he attempted to exert control of the magazine's staff after the publication's founder and entire staff of female writers resigned en masse Wednesday.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Andrea Monda, editor of the magazine's parent newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said in a statement that he never demanded "obedience" from the magazine's writers on issues such as the Catholic Church's ongoing sexual abuse scandal after Women Church World founder Lucetta Scaraffia announced the mass resignation.

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“In no way have I selected anyone, be it male or female, based on the criterion of obedience,” Monda said, according to the Post. “It is the opposite, avoiding any interference with the monthly magazine, I have supported truly free dialogue, not based on the mechanism of pitting one against the other, or of closed groups."

He also described Scaraffia's resignation as “free and autonomous" while not elaborating on the departure of the magazine's all-female staff.

Scaraffia told the Post in an interview that her entire staff had resigned due to Monda's decision to publish pieces that contradicted the magazine's editorial line in L’Osservatore Romano and rumors that Monda was set to take over the magazine as well.

"The whole newsroom has resigned," she told the Post.

“We couldn’t stay silent anymore; the trust that so many women had put in us would have been gravely wounded,” she added in an open letter to Pope Francis, according to the newspaper.

“We are throwing in the towel because we feel surrounded by a climate of mistrust and progressive delegitimization," she wrote.

The Catholic Church has battled scandals over the sexual abuse committed by priests for months, and most recently has faced questions over reports that nuns were abused by church officials as well.