Wednesday December 28, 2022 | 8:15 a.m.
Pope Francis said Wednesday that the 95-year-old former pope Benedict XVI, whose health has been steadily deteriorating, is “very ill” and is praying for him.
“I would like to ask everyone to say a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who is quietly supporting the Church. To remember him, because he is very sick, asking the Lord to comfort him and support him, in this testimony of love for the Church, until the end, “said Francis at his general audience.
Joseph Ratzinger, 96, of Germany, resigned from the pontificate in February 2013 and has lived in the Mater Ecclesiae convent inside Vatican City ever since.
His health, due to age, is very fragile, but his mind still works very well, as his personal secretary Georg Gänswein has explained in various statements.
Although today’s statements by Pope Francis suggest a worsening of his health conditions.
Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in six centuries, and has lived largely withdrawn from the public spotlight ever since.
According to the few photographs that have been published of him, his health has been deteriorating.
In 2013 he mentioned precisely his physical decline as one of the reasons why he decided to resign from continuing to be the head of the Catholic Church.
In April, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, told Vatican News that the emeritus pope was “relatively weak” though “in good spirits.”
Gänswein, who was his historic secretary and continues to be so now and takes care of all his efforts, gave an interview to the Italian magazine Oggi in which he explained that the German pope is “physically weak, but his head always works very well.” ”.
And that it helps him to be “methodical” in his day-to-day life, concelebrating Mass at 7:30 and then listening to music on his sofa and that he has even “returned to his usual walk through the Vatican Gardens,” he assured.
In the latest photos of Joseph Ratzinger, he used to be seen in a wheelchair walking through the Vatican gardens, always dressed in white and wearing a cap to protect himself from the sun.
The last photo of the pope emeritus is from March of this year. Volume VIII/1 of his Opera omnia, The Church, a sign between the peoples, published by the Vatican Publishing House, was delivered to him at his residence and he appeared seated in an armchair surrounded by his guests.
On April 13, Pope Francis visited his predecessor, Benedict XVI, to greet him on his birthday and they had a “brief and affectionate” conversation and prayed together, the Holy See said in a statement at the time.
