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Former pope Benedict XVI is “lucid and alert” and his condition remains serious but stable, the Vatican said Thursday, the day after revealing the 95-year-old’s health had deteriorated.
Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign as head of the worldwide Catholic Church, has been in fragile health for many years and uses a wheelchair.
But current Pope Francis sparked alarm on Wednesday by revealing at his general audience that his predecessor, whose birth name is Joseph Ratzinger, was “very ill”.
“The Pope Emeritus was able to rest well last night, he is absolutely lucid and alert and today, although his condition remains serious, the situation at the moment is stable,” the Vatican press office said Thursday.
Francis had called for people to pray for him, before going to visit Benedict at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican grounds where he lives.
The Vatican later confirmed the ex-pope’s health had worsened “due to advancing age”, while a Vatican source told AFP Wednesday that it began deteriorating “about three days ago”.
“It is his vital functions that are failing, including his heart,” the source said, adding that no hospital admission was planned, as he has the “necessary medical equipment” at home.
In response to the news, Catholic leaders from around the world said they would pray for him, from the United States to Benedict’s native Germany.
