Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in 2005, shortly after his election.
Andrew Medichini/AP
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Andrew Medichini/AP
Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in 2005, shortly after his election.
Andrew Medichini/AP
VATICAN CITY – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is lucid, sober and stable but his condition remains critical, the Vatican said on Thursday, a day after it was revealed that the man’s health This 95 year old man has recently deteriorated.
A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis would continue to pray “to accompany him in these difficult moments.”
On Wednesday, Francis revealed that Benedict was “seriously ill” and had visited him at his home in Vatican Park, where he has lived since retiring in 2013, raising concerns that he is about to die.
The Vatican later said Benedict XVI’s health had deteriorated in recent hours but the situation was under control as doctors monitored him.
In 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope to retire in 600 years, and he chose to live in seclusion during his retirement in a converted convent in the Vatican Gardens. Few expected his retirement – now in its 10th year – to extend beyond his eight-year reign as pope.
Bruni said on Thursday that Benedict “tried to rest well last night, fully alert and alert and today, while his condition is still serious, the current situation is stable. “
“Pope Francis reiterated his invitation to pray for him and accompany him in these difficult moments,” he said.
In response to that call, the diocese of Rome scheduled a special Mass in Benedict’s honor on Friday at St.
The news of Benedict’s declining health immediately raised questions about what would happen when he died, given the unprecedented fact that a reigning pope would presumably preside. funeral of a former pope.
Most Vatican experts expect any funeral to be the same as that for any retired bishop of Rome, although with the caveat that there will be official delegations honoring a former head of state. country, as well as pilgrims from Germany – home of Benedict, former Joseph Ratzinger – and beyond.
While St Peter’s Square was mostly filled with visitors from abroad on Thursday – during the peak Christmas tourist season – some Italians went out to pay their respects or at least to pray.
Giorgio Gibin, a pilgrim, said: “Obviously it’s a bad situation, we are all close to Pope Ratzinger, we are very sad about the situation, so we came here to close our doors. his small contribution”.
Another visitor to the square, Anna Małcka, noted Benedict’s advanced age and wished him well.
“I think he’s lived long enough now, poor thing, and since he’s sick, he’s not well, God willing, he’ll take him away,” she said.
On the other hand, while the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano covered Benedict’s health in its fifth edition, life went on as usual in the small city that Benedict and Pope Francis called home.
Francis had a seemingly routine audience on Thursday, meeting with his ambassador to Madagascar, the commander of the Swiss Guard and another Jesuit.
In the square, the stream of tourists waiting to enter St Peter’s Basilica almost surrounds the square, with couples and families stopping for selfies in front of the life-size nativity scene and the tree. Christmas is set up in the square.
Small groups of nuns hustled past the cobblestones and flag-wieling tour guides swarmed, while nearby souvenir vendors thrived with Vatican magnets, rosary beads and statues of Francis the head. round.
Liam Marchesano, a 22-year-old economics student from Mantova, who was waiting to see the basilica with his girlfriend, said: “We don’t know the news yet. “Maybe that’s why there’s such a long line.”
