Benedict XVI’s state of health remains stable and this Friday the pope emeritus attended a mass, but his medical team considers that his situation is serious and irreversible.
According to the French newspaper La Croix, despite the fact that the Pope emeritus is living his last hours, he is conscious, lucid and attended the mass on the morning of this sixth fair, as he was in costume before his physical condition deteriorated. last days.
“The pope emeritus is stable and his kidney blockage has been treated,” reported the newspaper La Croix, which specializes in religious information, citing sources from the Mater Ecclesiae monastery.
The newspaper ‘La Stampa’ pointed out that the clinical condition of the pope emeritus continues to be very serious and, citing sources from his medical team, stressed that little can be done to stop the slow physical deterioration that has worsened in recent days.
For the moment, he added, Benedict XVI’s situation is stable.
Benedict XVI is always accompanied by his personal secretary, Georg Ganswein, and four lay women, without any type of vow or habit, called Memores Domini of Communion and Liberation, who assist him in his daily activities.
In addition, a health team headed by his personal doctor, Patrizio Polisca, and the Vatican nurse, Friar Eligius, is in charge of monitoring his vital signs at all times.
No one in the emeritus pope’s entourage would have thought that his health could deteriorate so quickly. Even Archbishop Gänswein was in Germany when Pope Francis revealed on Wednesday the progressive deterioration of Benedict XVI’s state of health.
As revealed by the German newspapers ‘Sueddeutsche Zeitung’ and ‘Spiegel’, Ganswëin took the first flight to Rome when he realized the seriousness of Benedict XVI’s state of health and accompanied him in his last moments.
Benedict XVI’s medical team decided not to transfer the Pope emeritus to the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome, a referral center for the Popes and where, for example, Francis was admitted for colon surgery due to severe diverticulitis in July last year.
According to the German press, it would be the emeritus pope himself who would have expressed the desire not to be transferred to any clinic, in case his state of health deteriorated. However, this information has not been confirmed so far by the Vatican’s communications office.
Parishes in Rome have joined Pope Francis’ call to unite in prayer in the face of Benedict XVI’s deteriorating health conditions, including the parish of Santa Maria della Consolação di Casal Bertone and the parish of Santa Maria Stella dell’Evangelizzazione, in the Torrino district, on the outskirts of Rome.
Benedict XVI, whose original name is Joseph Ratzinger, was Pope between 2005 and 2013, when he abdicated and became emeritus of the diocese of Rome. Francis’ predecessor was the first pope to resign in 600 years, after Gregory XII in 1415.
He has lived for about 10 years in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican. In his decision, Benedict XVI cited the deterioration of his physical and mental health, which will have worsened in 2020, due to a facial infection.
According to his biographer, Peter Seewald, who visited the pope emeritus in August 2020 to give him his biography, Ratzinger was rational and retained his memory, but his voice was practically imperceptible. Benedict XVI’s will is already written and will be made public after his death, he added.
Ratzinger has expressed his desire to rest in the former tomb of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in the crypt of Saint Peter. John Paul II is buried in the São Sebastião Chapel, adjacent to the one that houses the sculpture La Pietà (Pietà), by Michelangelo.
Source: TSF
