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ROME — Pope Francis on Wednesday requested these current at his weekly viewers to hope for the retired Pope Benedict XVI, who Francis stated was “very in poor health.” Of their prayers, Francis stated, individuals ought to ask God to console Benedict and “assist him on this witness of affection to the church, till the top.”
Matteo Bruni, a Vatican spokesman, stated in a press release that, after the viewers, Francis had visited Benedict, 95, on the monastery on Vatican Metropolis grounds the place Benedict has lived since saying his resignation in February 2013. Benedict was the primary pope in six centuries to step down. More and more frail, he has hardly ever made public appearances in recent times.
Mr. Bruni stated that Benedict’s well being had “deteriorated in current hours on account of advancing age.” The state of affairs, he added, was “below management in the meanwhile, and was continually monitored by docs.”
When he resigned practically 10 years in the past, Benedict had cited his declining well being, each “of thoughts and physique.” He had stated that “on account of a sophisticated age,” his strengths have been “not suited to an satisfactory train” of main the church, which had led to his choice to resign freely, and “for the nice of the church.”
Since then, he has largely stepped again from public life, dedicating himself to prayer and meditation.
“I’d wish to ask all of you for a particular prayer for emeritus Pope Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the church,” Francis stated on Wednesday on the finish of his hourlong viewers.
Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born in 1927 and ordained a priest in 1951. Pope Paul VI named him archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977, the identical 12 months that he grew to become a cardinal. 4 years later, Pope John Paul II summoned Cardinal Ratzinger to Rome, the place he grew to become prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Religion, the workplace accountable for defending church orthodoxy, one of many Vatican’s most vital positions. He headed the workplace for practically 25 years.
After John Paul died in 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger was chosen as his successor, taking the identify of a fifth-century monk, Benedict of Norcia, who had based monasteries that unfold Christianity in Europe. The brand new pope, as Benedict XVI, would search to re-evangelize a Europe that was struggling to keep up its religion.
An mental who wrote a number of theological works, Benedict is taken into account conservative in his spiritual and social views. On the identical time, he has taken what many thought of to be liberal stands in selling environmental safety and in criticizing capitalism, notably through the monetary disaster that erupted in 2008.
However his papacy was marred by the unresolved sexual abuse scandal within the church, and within the 12 months earlier than he stepped down, an Italian journalist revealed a e book primarily based on insider paperwork detailing infighting, corruption and an influence wrestle on the Vatican financial institution.
When Benedict turned 95 in April, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the previous pope’s longtime private secretary, stated that Benedict was in “good spirits.” In an interview with Vatican Information, a Vatican-controlled outlet, Archbishop Gänswein stated that Benedict was “in fact bodily comparatively weak and frail, however lucid.”
The archbishop additionally stated within the interview that Benedict learn and handled correspondence and that he met with guests however that he discovered it tough to be the principle celebrant at Mass as a result of he didn’t have the energy.
This month, throughout an awards ceremony named for his predecessor, Pope Francis honored Benedict, remarking on the “non secular presence and accompaniment in prayer” of the retired pope.
Pope Francis final visited Benedict in August, together with a bunch of prelates who had been elevated as cardinals that day.
A video launched by the Vatican on the time confirmed a really frail Benedict receiving the greetings of the brand new cardinals. He and Francis blessed them on the finish.
Church leaders joined Francis on Wednesday in praying for the retired pope. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Convention, stated that Benedict’s post-papacy choice to accompany the church with prayer and reflection “was a powerful message for the ecclesiastical group and the entire of society.”
The archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, famous that he had “acquired the information that there’s a nice concern in Rome concerning the state of well being of the pope emeritus.”
“However for us, we’re united in prayer,” Cardinal Marx stated, in remarks quoted by the information company DPA.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting from Berlin.
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