Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, is “serious but stable”. This was defined in the morning by sources from the apartment where he resides at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens. A little later, the Communications Office of the Holy See expanded the information. “The Pope Emeritus managed to get a good rest during the night, he is perfectly lucid and alert, and today, although his condition is serious, he is stable. Pope Francis reiterates his request to pray for him and to accompany him in these difficult hours.”
The Pope Emeritus experienced a deterioration in his health about a week ago. But on Wednesday morning it was Pope Francis who warned of the progressive deterioration of his predecessor’s condition. The tone in which he said it and the sense that it wasn’t in the script added to the sense of seriousness. “I would like to ask you all a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. who silently supports the Church: Think of him, he is very ill, we ask the Lord to comfort him and support him in this profession of love for the Church to the end. ‘ the Pope stressed
Ratzinger would have refused to enter a hospital and spend his last days surrounded by the people who have accompanied him over the past few months: his personal secretary Monsignor Gänswein and four nuns, some German media have published. In any case, the latest information from the Vatican does not invite us to think of accelerating the deterioration of his health.
Joseph Ratzinger, 95, from Germany, resigned in February 2013 and has since lived at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City. His state of health has remained stable in recent months, but his fragility and advanced age, as those around him point out, do not bode well, in addition to the ailments of recent days.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe to
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits