Pope Francis this morning asked for "a special prayer" for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, recalling that "he is very ill" at the end of the general audience every Wednesday held in the Vatican's Paul VI hall. "I ask a special prayer for Pope Benedict XVI who is supporting the Church in silence. He is very sick and I ask the Lord to comfort him and support him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end", Francis said, in a phrase that has generated a lot of concern for the health of Joseph Ratzinger.
Joseph Ratzinger, 95, of Germany, resigned from the pontificate in February 2013, becoming the first pope in recent Church history to do so. Since then he lives in the Mater Ecclesiae convent inside Vatican City, and his public appearances have been very few. His last official one was at the end of August, when after the last consistory in which Franciscó created new cardinals, he went to his residence to meet them.
His historical personal secretary, Georg Gänswein, is always with him. Although he has explained that his health is fragile due to his advanced age, his conditions were stable, as shown by the different photographs that they have been sending regularly. The news from Pope Francis suggests a worsening of these conditions.
After Bergoglio's words, the spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, confirmed that in the last few hours there had been an "aggravation due to his advanced age" but that the situation was under control, closely followed by his doctors. After the audience, Francisco has come to visit him at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery.
The last time there had been fears in a similar way for the health of the emeritus was two years ago, when his biographer, the German author Peter Seewald, reported that he was seriously ill after visiting the pope emeritus in the Vatican. Seewald said Benedict had been suffering from a shingles infection on his face since he returned to Rome after visiting his brother in Regensburg in late June 2020. The biographer also assured that Benedicto's voice was practically imperceptible -something that those who have visited him in recent months have been repeating-, although he reasoned, kept his memory and was optimistic despite the illness.
