Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died at the age of 95 on Saturday, December 31 at 9:34 a.m., according to the Vatican Press Office and the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.
«It is with regret that I announce that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 a.m., in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery of the Vatican,» the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed to accredited journalists.
«Further information will be provided as soon as possible,» he added in a brief press release.
The Pope emeritus’ health conditions worsened last Wednesday, as announced at the general audience by Francis, who reported that he was «very ill».
«I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who in silence is sustaining the Church: remember him, he is very ill, we ask the Lord to comfort him and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church until the end,» the Pontiff said. Benedict XVI had been deteriorating for a week, but the news, despite his advanced age, came as a surprise to everyone.
No one in the Pope emeritus’ entourage imagined that his health conditions could worsen overnight. In fact, Archbishop Gänswein, who has become his closest family in these nine and a half years of spiritual retirement after stepping aside from the leadership of the Church, was in Germany when Pope Francis revealed last Wednesday the progressive deterioration of Benedict XVI.
Benedict XVI died in his bedroom at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, located within the Vatican walls, where he has resided since he resigned the pontificate in 2013. Despite the seriousness of his condition, at no time was he transferred to any hospital although the medical attention he has received at all times by his medical team was constant.
Benedict XVI’s medical team decided not to transfer the Pope Emeritus to the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome, a reference center for pontiffs, where, for example, Pope Francis was hospitalized for a colon operation due to severe diverticulitis in July last year. However, according to the German press, it was the Pope emeritus himself who expressed his wish not to be transferred to any clinic in case his health conditions worsened. However, this information was never confirmed by the Vatican’s communications office.
SOURCE: (EUROPA PRESS)
