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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is lucid, alert and secure however his situation stays severe, the Vatican says, a day after it was revealed the 95-year-old’s well being had deteriorated lately.
An announcement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni mentioned Pope Francis requested for continued prayers “to accompany him in these tough hours.”
On Thursday the Pope revealed that Benedict was “very unwell” and went to see him at his dwelling within the Vatican the place he has lived since retiring in 2013, sparking fears that he was close to loss of life.
The Vatican later mentioned Benedict’s well being had deteriorated in latest hours however that the state of affairs was underneath management as medical doctors monitored him.
Benedict in 2013 grew to become the primary pope in 600 years to resign, and he selected to dwell out his retirement in seclusion in a transformed monastery within the Vatican Gardens. Few had anticipated his retirement — now in its 10th yr — to last more than his eight-year reign as pope.
Bruni mentioned Thursday that Benedict “managed to relaxation effectively final night time, is completely lucid and alert and as we speak, whereas his situation stays grave, the state of affairs in the mean time is secure.”
Responding to his name for prayers, the diocese of Rome scheduled a particular Mass in honor of Benedict on Friday at St John Lateran, Benedict’s former cathedral in his capability because the bishop of Rome.
Phrase of Benedict’s declining well being instantly raised questions on what would occur when he dies, given the unprecedented actuality of getting a reigning pope presumably presiding over the funeral of a former pope.
Most Vatican specialists count on any funeral would resemble that for any retired bishop of Rome, albeit with the caveat that there could be official delegations to honor a former head of state, in addition to pilgrims from Germany — homeland of Benedict, the previous Joseph Ratzinger — and past.
In Germany on Thursday, a few of the trustworthy headed to the Chapel of Grace in town sq. in Altoetting, a significant pilgrimage vacation spot a number of miles from Benedict’s hometown of Marktl am Inn that he visited many instances in his life.
Others visited the St Oswald church in Marktl, the place he was baptized.
“I do know that he has been getting ready for his coming dwelling within the everlasting world,” mentioned Herbert Hofauer, the retired mayor of the deeply Catholic city of Altoetting, who mentioned he noticed Benedict final within the spring. “I consider that he’s very calmly trying ahead to this encounter.”
