The condition of Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI, for whose ailing health his successor Francis has
urged prayers, is stable and the 95-year-old German ex-pontiff
is continuing to attend Mass in the Vatican ex-monastery he
lives in, Vatican Spokesman Matteo Bruni said Friday.
"Last night the Pope Emeritus was able to rest well. Also
yesterday afternoon he participated in the celebration of Holy
Mass in his room. At present his condition is stationary", said
Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, responding to
journalists' questions.
Bruni said Thursday that Benedict was alert and lucid.
Sources have said 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 Benedict, 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.
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