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Vatican says health of retired pope Benedict XVI ‘worsening’

Published:Wednesday | December 28, 2022 | 9:04 AM
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to attend the beatification ceremony of Pope Paul VI, on October 19, 2014. Pope Francis on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, said his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is “very sick," and he asked the faithful to pray for the retired pontiff so God will comfort him “to the very end.” (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the frail 95-year-old's condition, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who asked the faithful earlier Wednesday to pray for Benedict, went to visit his predecessor in the monastery on Vatican grounds where the retired pontiff has lived since retiring in February 2013.

“Regarding the health conditions of the emeritus pope, for whom Pope Francis asked for prayers at the end of his general audience this morning, I can confirm that in the last hours, a worsening due to advanced age has happened,″ Bruni said in a written statement.

“The situation at the moment remains under control, constantly monitored by doctors,” according to the statement.

At the end of his customary Wednesday audience with the public in a Vatican auditorium, Francis departed from his prepared remarks to say that Benedict is “very sick” and asked the faithful to pray for the retired pontiff.

Francis didn't elaborate on the condition of Benedict.

“I'd like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Emeritus Pope Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the church,″ Francis said in remarks near the end of an hour-long audience.

"I remind you that he is very sick,” Francis said.

Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, has become increasingly frail in recent years as he dedicated his post-papacy life to prayer and meditation.

When Benedict turned 95 in April, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, said the retired pontiff was in good spirits, adding that “naturally he is physically relatively weak and fragile, but rather lucid.”

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