Vatican says health of retired pope Benedict XVI 'worsening'

By The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has
worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the
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.

"Let's ask the Lord to comfort him and sustain him in this testimony of
love to the church to the very end," Francis said.

After the hour-long audience, "Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae
monastery to visit Benedict XVI. Let us all unite with him in prayer
for the emeritus pope," Bruni 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."

Francis called on Benedict at the monastery four months ago. The
occasion was Francis' latest ceremony elevating churchmen to cardinal
rank, and the new "princes of the church" accompanied him for the brief
greeting.

The Vatican released a photo at the time that showed a very
thin-looking Benedict clasping a hand of Francis as they current and
past pontiff smiled at each other.

In his first years of retirement, Benedict attended a couple of
cardinal-elevating ceremonies in St. Peter's Basilica. But in recent
years, he wasn't strong enough to attend the long service.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> Vatican says health of retired pope Benedict XVI 'worsening'
>
> By The Associated Press
>
>
> VATICAN CITY (AP) - The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has
> worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the
> 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.
>
> "Let's ask the Lord to comfort him and sustain him in this testimony of
> love to the church to the very end," Francis said.
>
> After the hour-long audience, "Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae
> monastery to visit Benedict XVI. Let us all unite with him in prayer
> for the emeritus pope," Bruni 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."
>
> Francis called on Benedict at the monastery four months ago. The
> occasion was Francis' latest ceremony elevating churchmen to cardinal
> rank, and the new "princes of the church" accompanied him for the brief
> greeting.
>
> The Vatican released a photo at the time that showed a very
> thin-looking Benedict clasping a hand of Francis as they current and
> past pontiff smiled at each other.
>
> In his first years of retirement, Benedict attended a couple of
> cardinal-elevating ceremonies in St. Peter's Basilica. But in recent
> years, he wasn't strong enough to attend the long service.
>
> Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

He has surpassed the lifespan of Leo XIII (1810-1903) and thus
become the longest-lived reliably-dated Pope,and might not have
done so had he stayed on the job,but Francis (86 earlier this
month) has now passed him as oldest active Pope since Leo.

So...if a vacancy for Pope Emeritus comes up,will Francis take it?

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

In article <toijpq$h5n$2@reader2.panix.com>, Louis Epstein
<le@top.put.com> wrote:

> So...if a vacancy for Pope Emeritus comes up,will Francis take it?

There's no reasonable answer to that. It's more likely now that he'd
do it, since the precedent's been set and few seemed to mind very much.

This stuff with Benedict would have been big trouble a few hundred
years ago, when the church was still a potent political force in
Europe. Wars, wars and more wars.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> In article <toijpq$h5n$2@reader2.panix.com>, Louis Epstein
> <le@top.put.com> wrote:
>
>> So...if a vacancy for Pope Emeritus comes up,will Francis take it?
>
>
> There's no reasonable answer to that. It's more likely now that he'd
> do it, since the precedent's been set and few seemed to mind very much.
>
> This stuff with Benedict would have been big trouble a few hundred
> years ago, when the church was still a potent political force in
> Europe. Wars, wars and more wars.

Francis has been undoing a lot of what Benedict did,and Benedict
keeping his promise to keep quiet about it.

I wonder if Francis could do the same (both have remade the
College of Cardinals considerably,but Benedict was not succeeded
by a man of his own type,and another "correction toward the center"
is beyond the power of Francis to prevent).

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

On Wed, 28 Dec 2022 23:34:18 -0000 (UTC), Louis Epstein <le@top.put.com> wrote:

| So...if a vacancy for Pope Emeritus comes up,will Francis take it?

Whatever Francis may decide to do, I hope the next Pope will be a younger and more
vigorous person such as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) when he was chosen
for the Papacy at age 58.

Larc

Larc <larc@notmyaddress.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Dec 2022 23:34:18 -0000 (UTC), Louis Epstein <le@top.put.com> wrote:
>
> | So...if a vacancy for Pope Emeritus comes up,will Francis take it?
>
> Whatever Francis may decide to do, I hope the next Pope will be a younger and more
> vigorous person such as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) when he was chosen
> for the Papacy at age 58.

FWIW here are the birth-death dates of the Popes after Pius VIII:

Gregory XVI 1765-1846
Pius IX 1792-1878
Leo XIII 1810-1903
Pius X 1835-1914
Benedict XV 1854-1922
Pius XI 1857-1939
Pius XII 1876-1958
John XXIII 1881-1963
Paul VI 1897-1978
John Paul I 1912-1978
John Paul II 1920-2005
Benedict XVI 1927-(abd 2013)-
Francis 1936-

Normally,they are younger than the Presidents of the LDS Church
(after Brigham Young):

John Taylor 1808-1887
Wilford Woodruff 1807-1898
Lorenzo Snow 1814-1901
Joseph F. Smith Sr. 1838-1918
Heber J. Grant 1856-1945
George Albert Smith 1870-1951
David O. McKay 1873-1970
Joseph F. Smith Jr. 1876-1972
Harold B. Lee 1899-1973
Spencer W. Kimball 1895-1985
Ezra Taft Benson 1899-1994
Howard W. Hunter 1907-1995
Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008
Thomas S. Monson 1927-2018
Russell M. Nelson 1924-

....or Presidents of the Ramakrishna Math/Mission (after
Brahmananda):

Shivananda 1854-1934
Akhandananda 1864-1937
Vijnanananda 1868-1938
Shuddhananda 1872-1938
Virajananda 1873-1951
Shankarananda 1880-1962
Vishuddhananda 1882-1962
Madhavananda 1888-1965
Vireshwarananda 1892-1985
Gambhirananda 1899-1988
Bhuteshananda 1901-1998
Ranganathananda 1908-2005
Gahanananda 1916-2007
Atmasthananda 1919-2017
Smaranananda 1929-

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.