Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is in
serious but stable condition after Pope Francis asked for
prayers for his "very ill" predecessor whose respiratory
problems have worsened lately, Vatican sources said Thursday.
Sources in contact with the former monastery where the
95-year-old ex-pontiff lives told ANSA that nothing had changed
with respect to Wednesday, when Francis issued his appeal at his
general audience.
They said the former Joseph Ratzinger, the first German pope in
1,000 years, spent the night under the constant control of his
doctors and their monitoring of his condition would continue
unabated.
Pope Francis on Wednesday asked the faithful to pray for his
predecessor, who he said was "very sick".
Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience in the
Vatican, Francis asked for a "special prayer" for the German
ex-pontiff, who became the first pope to resign in 600 years
when he stepped down due to ill health on February 11, 2013.
The man born Joseph Ratzinger. who had taken over from Polish
pope Saint John Paul II on April 19, 2005, is reportedly
suffering from increasing respiratory problems.
His last published photos, on the occasion of a prizegiving for
the two winners of his Ratzinger Foundation theology prize on
December 1, show a man slumped in his chair, visibly thinner,
weak and very fatigued.
"I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope
Emeritus Benedict who in silence is supporting the Church,"
Francis said after his audience in the Vatican. "Remembering
him, he is very ill, asking the Lord to console him, to sustain
him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end".
The 86-year-old Francis is himself not in the best of health and
has often been forced to use a wheelchair due to chronic knee
pain. On Wednesday he used a stick to get around during the
audience, before heading off to visit Benedict.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni subsequently said: ""Regarding
the health conditions of the Pope Emeritus, for whom Pope
Francis asked for prayers at the end of the general audience
this morning, I can confirm that in recent hours there has been
an aggravation due to advancing age.
"The situation at the moment remains under control, followed
constantly by the doctors. At the end of the general audience
Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery to visit
Benedict XVI. We join with him in prayer for the Pope Emeritus".
Benedict's condition had already worsened in the days before
Christmas, well-informed sources told ANSA later Wednesday, when
"he began to experience respiratory problems".
Benedict XVI spent Christmas at the former Mater Ecclesiae
monastery where a personal Mass for him was celebrated at home
in the little chapel, the sources said, adding that the former
pope was getting treatment.
Mathematician and atheism campaigner Piergiorgio Odifreddi said
after a recent meeting with the pope emeritus that he was "by
now completely unable to speak".
The bombshell news that Benedict was to become the first pope to
resign since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so on his
own initiative since Celestine V in 1294, was broken by ANSA
Vaticanist Giovanna Chirri at 10:46 on February 11, 2013 thanks
to her knowledge of Latin, the language in which the pope had
cited poor health for his reasons in quitting, unbeknownst to
the Latin-less rest of the Vatican press corps.
Once dubbed 'God's Rottweiler' in his previous role as the
Vatican's doctrinal enforcer, the meek intellectual and cerebral
theologian Benedict struggled to keep a firm hand on the papacy
and was beset with clerical sex abuse scandals, upping action
against them.
He was recently himself accused of inaction on predator priests
as a bishop in his native Germany.
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