Former Pope Benedict XVI “Extremely Frail”: Reports

The former head of the Catholic church – pope Benedict XVI – is reportedly seriously ill and has become “extremely frail” after visiting his brother in Germany in June, according to the Monday edition of Germany’s Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

Benedict, now aged 93, is reportedly suffering from a condition called erysipelas of the face, the newspaper said in referring to comments made by his former biographer Peter Seewald.

When obvious the condition can cause rashes on the face and severe pain.

“According to Seewald, the Pope emeritus is now extremely frail. His thinking and his memory are quick, but his voice is hardly audible at the moment” the German paper printed.

Mr. Seewald is understood to have visited Benedict in the Italian capital Rome last weekend to give him a copy of his latest biography.

The German born former pope, real name Joseph Ratzinger, had been in Germany to visit his ailing brother George before falling ill in what was his first trip outside Italy since 2013, when he shocked the world by resigning his position as pope.

In the years since he has lived quietly in a small monastery inside the Vatican grounds, preferring to stay out of the public eye, and at the time he was the first pope in six centuries to resign.

Georg, 96, died just two weeks after Benedict’s visit.

“At the meeting the emeritus Pope, despite his illness, was optimistic and declared that if his strength increased again he would possibly take up his pen again,” the report said

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.