Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is “lucid”, although his health conditions are “serious” but “stable”, the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, advanced Thursday.
“The emeritus pope managed to get a good rest the night before, he is fully lucid and on alert and today, although the conditions remain serious, the situation is stable at the moment. Pope Francis renews the invitation to pray for him and accompany him in these difficult times,” he said in a brief statement.
Francis warned about the situation of the emeritus pontiff in the general audience on Wednesday, when he asked for “a special prayer for Pope Benedict XVI, who in silence is supporting the church” and is “very sick.”
After these words, Bruni issued a first press release to confirm that in recent hours there had been “a worsening” of his condition “due to advancing age”, but without giving further details about his condition.
Rejection
According to some media, Benedict XVI refused to be transferred to a hospital from the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, in the Vatican gardens, where he has lived apart since 2013, after his resignation, and where he continues to be constantly monitored by medical teams and accompanied by his secretary, the German Georg Gänswein. And, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, citing sources close to the monastery, the emeritus pontiff is “responding positively to the treatment.”
Yesterday, the Diocese of Rome assured that it has joined the prayer request made by Francis at the general audience on Wednesday, when he sounded the alarm about the situation of Benedict XVI. “I ask for a special prayer for Pope Benedict XVI who is supporting the Church in silence and to remember that he is very ill and asking the Lord to comfort him and support him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end,” Francis said. . Since April 2, 2013, Joseph Ratzinger has lived surrounded by his Vatican “family”, made up of a secretary and four consecrated lay women from the “Memores Domini” institute, of the Communion and Liberation movement.