Benedict was not suffering from “any particular grave illness” but is “gradually wearing out and fading away due to his advanced age”.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Emeritus Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced on Saturday.
Pope Francis had recently said the former pontiff is “very sick”.
Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, had on Wednesday issued a statement confirming that Benedict’s condition had worsened “in the last few hours” due to “advancing age” but said it was “under control” and being monitored by doctors.
Bruni added that after the audience, Pope Francis visited the pope emeritus at his Mater Ecclesiae residence in the Vatican.
A well-informed Vatican source told the Catholic Herald on Wednesday evening that Benedict was not suffering from “any particular grave illness” but is “gradually wearing out and fading away due to his advanced age”.
The source confirmed a report in the National Catholic Register that Benedict had a recent modification to his pacemaker but described this, along with reported kidney failure, as “typical of old age” rather than due to a specific illness or disease.