Friday, March 25, 2016

Former Pope Benedict XVI said to be "slowly fading"

Rome (AFP) - Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is "slowly, serenely fading" but remains "very lucid", his personal secretary said in an interview published Thursday.

Joseph Ratzinger is "an old man, of course, but very lucid. Unfortunately, it's become difficult for him to walk and he needs to use a walking frame," Georg Gaenswein said in an interview with the Italian magazine BenEssere.

In 2013, Benedict became the first head of the Catholic Church to resign in seven centuries, amid speculation he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, unable to cope at the top of an institution beset by scandals.

He said he no longer had the strength of mind or body to carry on, but his health appeared to improve after he stepped down and moved into a former convent in the grounds of the Vatican.

"In April, Benedict XVI will be 89 years old. He's like a candle which is slowly, serenely fading. He is serene, at peace with God, himself and the world," said Gaenswein.

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5 comments:

  1. lannes3/25/2016 1:56 PM

    Eighty-nine is old, but hardly a record.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris3/25/2016 10:55 PM

    ^No one said it was. If he were to die, it would still be a good run especially for a man as dedicated to prayer and God as he.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Anti-Gnostic3/26/2016 1:52 PM

    The last European pope.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Clear Waters3/27/2016 12:14 PM

    And in his place, a man who could not have been timed with more devastating effect. I've penned a letter to Pope Francis that the Orthosphere may publish. For all Benedict's faults, he was not selling Europe to heathens.

    ReplyDelete
  5. lannes3/28/2016 7:33 AM

    The implication is that, at 89, he's ready to be pronounced dead.

    ReplyDelete

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