Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had a stable night, but his condition is ‘extremely precarious’

According to the few sources revealing information, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German Joseph Ratzinger, had no changes to a table of conditions on Wednesday evening “extremely precarious”.

Benedict XVI, who changed the papal figure by resigning from his post in February 2013 after 600 years without the spontaneous resignation of a pontiff, has been getting worse since just before Christmas, when he suffered “respiratory problems”.

The Vatican doctors who treat him “have everything they need” in the “Mother of the Church” monastery where he has lived for almost ten years, said another source. Two German newspapers said so He didn’t want to go to the hospital.

fragile health

The great theologian who participated in the Second Vatican Council in the 60s and his doctors know that his dominant disease it is old agesince he completed April 16th 95 years old.

Ratzinger has always explained that he is in rather poor health. His father and his brothers died of stroke. He himself suffered a stroke when he was already prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith for a decade, in 1991. He gradually lost the sight in his left eye.

Pope John Paul II, who made him his most important collaborator 41 years ago, rejected his resignation. Ratzinger, former archbishop of Munich, Germany, succeeded him as the 265th. Pontiff of the Church in 2005.

Joseph Ratzinger proved extraordinary resistance to their frail health. He resigned in February 2013 because “I felt my strength wasn’t sufficient” and is still alive almost ten years later, at an age within reach.

For four decades he became the most influential person in the Church. A source also said on Thursday that elderly people who reach the end of their days often demonstrate fluctuations that prolong your life “and they can last for days even if they seem exhausted.”

In the Vatican and in the vast Catholic world, the impact of Joseph Ratzinger’s health is growing ever stronger.

Doubts about your unique status

At the internal level of the Church, doubts about its uniqueness are being raised which apparently will not be repeated. When he resigned in February 2013, Benedict XVI announced that he would keep his status as pontiff and created the title of Pope Emeritus.

It had been more than a year since preparations had begun to convert it into accommodation for the nuns in the Vatican the only Pope emeritus in the 2,000-year history of the Church.

Following the health problems caused by knee arthrosis suffered by Pope Francis, a few months ago the Catholic world saw that the pontiff no longer walked and he was traveling in a wheelchair.

Bergoglio’s resignation

Francisco did not want to undergo surgery and resorted to a clever strategy. While he undergoes infiltration and massage treatments that have allowed him to walk leaning on a cane and continue to use the flying chair to which the faithful have become accustomed and Church officials, Jorge Bergoglio began to speak of his resignation.

He said it wasn’t forthcoming and issued some guidelines. If one day I stop he would not be pope emeritus because “there is only one Pope”. He would have been bishop emeritus of Rome. He will not return to Argentina nor will it remain in the Vatican.

He could reside in one of the buildings of the complex of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, seat of the bishops of Rome and celebrate mass and perform other religious tasks, like confessionsthere or in a nearby parish.

All these ruminations, of course it could not come true with his predecessor Benedict XVI still alive. That’s why Francisco believes it is necessary legislate on the Pope’s resignation in the long term, on the basis that the pontiff who resigns will be bishop emeritus of Rome, successor of Saint Peter, the founder, who was the first. The status of Pope is reserved for the Bishop of Rome.

What would the funeral be like?

If Joseph Ratzinger dies, there’s a problem what funeral he will receive. Apparently Francisco would have decided that they are those of a reigning pope. His body would have been transferred from the monastery in the Vatican gardens to the nearby St. Peter’s Basilica, where the body is located it would be prepared and displayed before the faithful for several days.

The Holy See, whose head of state is the Pope, maintains diplomatic relations with 197 countries. The delegations would arrive in Rome, understood one from Argentinaand many will choose the top tier, i.e. their monarchs, presidents and heads of government.

A striking peculiarity is that they will be funerals without the cardinals coming destined to meet to enter the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel within two weeks. The successor to be chosen is already fully functional for almost a decade.

Where would he be buried?

last topic. whatWhere will he be buried? the body of Joseph Ratzinger, probably the only pope emeritus of the Church? This is a borderline question. In the Vatican grottoesthirty meters below the floor of St. Peter’s Basilica, it is located the cemetery of a few pontiffs.

Over there expect two graves. One is the one that has all the connotations of celebrity, because they were successively the bodies of John XXIII, who died in 1965, and of John Paul II, who died in 2005. After being proclaimed saints they were elevated to the chapels of the basilica of San Pedro where they are revered by the faithful from all over the world.

The other tomb is a sarcophagus similar to others containing the remains of previous popes.

The sarcophagus was added a few years ago because as one official commented “There cannot be two popes and one tomb.”

But to which grave will Ratzinger’s body go when the time comes for the handover?

No one speaks officially but as time went on the leaks spread. One stated that the current Pope has indicated to the authorities of the basilica his preference for the earliest grave. Another version indicates that Pope Ratzinger wrote it in his will pretend for him the tomb that hosted John XXIII and John Paul II.

Vatican correspondent

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