The former Pope who is the first one to be alive in 600 years when the next one is incumbent and alive, is said to be very ill after his trip to Germany for a visitation to his brother, who died shortly afterward.
The 93-year-old former pontiff is reportedly infected with a severe case of shingles, and is clearly obviously weakened. So weak is his ailments, that some of those closest to him has testified that he barely could make his voice heard. This has come from the source of none other than his German biographer, who also calls for the fact that the senile former head of all Catholics is clearly clear in the minds and the memory department, according to Peter Seewald in his testimony to the Passauer Neue Presse. He also did mention he seemed to be a bit better on last Saturday.
But his condition has since ‘become extremely fragile’, the newspaper reported. Pope Benedict had previously made the trip to his native Bavaria in June to see his brother and priest Georg Ratzinger for the final rendezvous. Ratzinger, aged 96, passed away shortly after the papal visitation. It was Benedict’s first trip outside Italy since 2013, the year he resigned the papacy.
The funeral of Father Georg Ratzinger, the brother of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, was held on Wednesday at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Regensburg, Germany.
Fr. Georg Ratzinger died at the age of 96 on 1 July after being hospitalized in Regensburg, the city where he lived the greater part of his life. His death came just over a week after the Pope emeritus made a visit in mid-June to Regensburg to be with his ailing brother.
Following his brother’s death, Pope Francis sent a personal note of condolences to his predecessor, assuring the Pope emeritus of his prayers both for his brother and for Benedict himself.
During the funeral celebrated by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, Archbishop Georg Gänswein read an emotional letter written by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI for the occasion:
“The echo of his life and work, which I have received in these days in the form of letters, telegrams and emails, goes far beyond what I could have imagined,” he wrote, adding that Cardinal Newman’s quip “cor ad cor loquitur” has become true for him, as hearts speak to each other beyond words on paper, according to the Vatican’s official media outlet.
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