Giacomo Galeazzi vatican city
Concern has spread about Ratzinger's apparently rapidly
deteriorating health. “Benedict XVI is not suffering from any specific
chronic illness; his health problems are purely to do with old age,” the
director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi stressed.
His statement, released to Catholic news agency Aci Prensa, came
in response to rumours that have been circulating in the Spanish press
about the Pope Emeritus suffering a serious illness. In recent pictures
Ratzinger appears visibly thinner and physically weaker.
According to information from within the Curia, Pope
Francis was apparently also told about his predecessor's health
conditions, by Georg Gaenswein, who reassured him. Benedict's increased
general fragility is apparently not due to any specific illnesses,
recent routine medical check ups confirm. Physical and nervous
deterioration are normal consequences of the stressful period that
ensued Ratzinger's resignation as Pope. He does not need to be
hospitalised for the time being and as scheduled, the former Pope is to
return to the Vatican next month, to enter the monastery that has been
prepared for him, in the Vatican gardens.
Spanish journalist Paloma Gomez Borrer, the Pope
Emeritus' health has allegedly deteriorated significantly in this recent
period. Meanwhile, Francis continues to show great consideration for
his predecessor as he prepares to make changes to the Church's
leadership. He is considering a number of candidates for the position of
Secretary of State, but it is likely he will choose an Italian.
Cardinal Fernando Filoni was Benedict XVI's favourite for this role,
although he was always fervently opposed to Bertone's substitution
during the Vatileaks storm. Ratzinger had apparently considered the
current prefect of the all-powerful Propaganda Fide dicastery and
previously (from June 2007 to May 2011) substitute for General Affairs
in the Secretariat of State, as a possible candidate for the position of
Secretary of State.
The Pope Emeritus expressed this preference during his historic
meeting with the new Pope on Saturday 23 March at the papal residence at
Castel Gandolfo. Filoni, 67, has frontline international experience in
very difficult situations given the role he held as Apostolic Nuncio to
Iraq during the Iraq war and then as Apostolic Nuncio to the
Philippines. Time will tell whether Bergoglio will take his
predecessor's choice into account. As photographs attest, Benedict XVI
handed a hefty pack of documents and two sealed envelopes to Francis
which were clearly to do with his papal ministry.
Bergoglio himself wanted the pictures of the box on the table to be taken: a symbol of the handover of the Church's leadership from one Pope to another. Ratzinger's word means a great deal to Francis. And he is naturally also concerned about his predecessor's health.
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