Vatican admits Pope Emeritus health deteriorated

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Vatican has admitted that the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict has deteriorated, after an experienced Holy See watcher claimed that "we won't have him with us for very much longer", The Daily Telegraph reported.

Benedict, 85, who made history by becoming the first Pope since the Middle Ages to voluntarily step down, has looked increasingly frail in his few public appearances since his resignation on Feb 28.

He appeared particularly unsteady when he was visited by his successor, Pope Francis, at Castel Gandolfo, the summer papal residence outside Rome where Benedict has been staying since his departure from the Vatican.

Paloma Gomez Borerro, a veteran Vatican correspondent from Spain, claimed that "Benedict is in a very bad way. In the last 15 days he has undergone a tremendous physical deterioration."

Benedict is due to move to a former convent within the walls of the Vatican within the next month, but Ms Gomez Borrero said she thought it unlikely he would spend much time there in light of his declining health. "We won't have him with us for very much longer," she said.

Vatican insiders said her claim that Benedict had deteriorated sharply in the last 15 days was overly "alarmist", but conceded that in the last few months he had become weaker.

Benedict cited his dwindling physical and mental fortitude as the reason for his resignation, when he announced on Feb 11 that he intended to step down.

"Anyone who has watched the Pope over the last few months has seen that he has deteriorated," said one senior insider with knowledge of Benedict's health. "At his final public appearances, it was evident that he was having difficulty walking. He started using a cane about a year ago. The overall decline has been steady, there's no doubt about it."

Last month it emerged that Benedict had a pacemaker fitted about a decade ago, and a replacement installed less than three months before the announcement of his resignation.

His eyesight is said to be failing and he has appeared increasingly stooped in posture.

For months before his historic decision to resign, Benedict had dropped hints that he no longer felt up to the job.