Old Pope Benedict “very ill”

Pope Francis asked for help for his “very ill” predecessor Benedict XVI. asked. At the general audience in the Vatican, he called for a “special prayer” for the 95-year-old Pope Emeritus, “who quietly supports the Church.”

“Let us ask the Lord to comfort him and to support him in his testimony of love for the Church to the end,” said the Catholic Church leader.

Francis visits his predecessor

The spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, then announced that Benedict’s health had deteriorated in the past few hours due to his advanced age. But the situation is “under control for the moment”. The Pope is constantly monitored by doctors, Bruni said.

Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery to visit his predecessor. “Let’s all join him in prayer for the Pope Emeritus,” Bruni said.

Surprising retirement in 2013

Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger. headed the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013 as the first German pope in 482 years. He resigned from his post for health reasons. Francis was elected his successor.

Born in Marktl am Inn in Bavaria in 1927, Ratzinger was Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977. In 1982 he became head of the Vatican’s faith authority and finally pope in 2005. Since surprisingly resigning from office in February 2013, he has lived in a former convent in the Vatican Gardens.

Recently it has been said for months that Benedict is physically weak and can hardly speak. Mentally, however, he is fit according to the circumstances. At irregular intervals, Benedikt, who is cared for by his long-time companion Georg Gänswein and nuns, also received visitors.

President of the Bishops’ Conference calls for prayer

The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, asked the faithful to pray for the sick Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. called. “I join Pope Francis’ call to prayer,” said Bätzing, Bishop of Limburg, to the dpa news agency. “My thoughts are with the Pope Emeritus. I call on the faithful in Germany to pray for Benedict XVI.”

In a first reaction to the state of health of the Pope Emeritus, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Reinhard Marx, emphasized the bond in prayer. “When the Holy Father Francis tells us that we should be connected in prayer, then we do that today in particular with young Christians,” said Marx in Bad Tölz in Upper Bavaria.

Get well wishes from the Chancellor

Benedict’s longtime companion, theologian Wolfgang Beinert, said the situation was certainly very serious. “But for a man approaching 100, that’s not surprising.” Until the beginning of the year, he still had correspondence with Benedict, according to the emeritus professor of theology.

In Berlin, Deputy Government Spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was thinking of Benedict and wished him a speedy recovery.