HEALTH CONDITION OF POPE BENEDICT XVI STABLE BUT REMAINS SERIOUS

Thu 29 December 2022:

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s condition remains serious but stable, according to the Holy See’s top press officer, Matteo Bruni, on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, sources told Sputnik that the Pope Emeritus remained under constant medical supervision in a “very serious” condition.

“The Pope Emeritus was able to rest well last night. He is absolutely lucid and alert. Today, although his condition remains serious, the situation remains stable at the moment,” Bruni said during a briefing, as quoted by the Holy See official Twitter account.

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During a general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Francis asked the faithful to offer a special prayer for Benedict XVI, noting that he is “very ill.

” The pontiff called for prayerful support for his predecessor on the Apostolic See, “asking the Lord to console him, and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end.” Following the general audience, Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery to visit the Pope Emeritus.

Word of Benedict’s declining health immediately posed questions about what would happen when he dies, given the unprecedented reality of having a reigning pope presumably presiding over the funeral of a former pope.

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Most Vatican experts expect any funeral would resemble that for any retired bishop of Rome, albeit with the caveat that there would be official delegations to honor a former head of state, as well as pilgrims from Germany — homeland of Benedict, the former Joseph Ratzinger — and beyond.

Benedict XVI held the Apostolic See from April 2005 to February 2013. At a consistory on February 11, 2013, he unexpectedly announced his decision to abdicate the papacy. The 95-year-old now lives in the small monastery of Mater Ecclesiae in the Gardens of Vatican City.

“We’ve never had this before where a living pope will help bury a dead pope,” Catholic historian John McGreevy said.

Even the Middle Ages do not provide a template, because when Gregory XII resigned in 1415 his aim was to bring an end to years of division involving rival challengers to the papacy.

Scandal and error

In a university lecture Pope Benedict quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying Islam had only brought evil to the world and that it was spread by the sword. The pope said he regretted any misunderstanding the speech caused, but only after protests including attacks on churches in the Middle East and the killing of a nun in Somalia.

The pope began his lecture at the University of Regensburg by quoting from a 14th-century dialogue between the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologos, and a Persian scholar. In a passage on the concept of holy war, Benedict recited a passage of what he called “startling brusqueness,” in which Manuel questioned the teachings of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.

“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,” Benedict quoted the emperor as saying.

The pope neither explicitly endorsed nor denounced the emperor’s words, but rather used them as a preface to a discussion of faith and reason. The Vatican said the pope did not intend the remarks to be offensive to Muslims.

Child abuse scandals hounded much of his time as pope. He ordered an official inquiry into abuse in Ireland, which led to the resignation of several bishops.

And scandal hit closer to home in 2012, when his own butler was unmasked as the source of leaked documents alleging corruption in the Vatican‘s business dealings.

The pope prompted international outrage again in March 2009, telling reporters on a plane taking him to Africa that the use of condoms in the fight against Aids worsened the problem.

A report published in January 2022 on sexual abuse in the archdiocese from 1945 to 2019 accused Benedict of failing to take action against clerics in four cases when he was archbishop of Munich.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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