Former Pope Benedict is suffering debilitating paralysis that could spread to his heart, it has been revealed.
Former Pope Benedict is suffering from a disease of his nervous system which means he often needs to use a wheelchair, his brother Georg Ratzinger said.
Benedict, a German who in 2013 became the first pope in six centuries to resign, said earlier this month he was in ‘the last phase of life’ and on a ‘pilgrimage towards home’.
Former Pope Benedict (pictured) is suffering debilitating paralysis that could spread to his heart, it has been revealed
Georg, 94, told the Neue Post that his brother was mentally fit but that he tires easily.
‘The greatest fear is that the paralysis could at some point spread to his heart.
Then it could be over quickly,’ said Ratzinger, adding he prayed every day for a ‘good’ death for himself and his brother.
Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd from the window of the Pope’s summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, back in 2013
He also said the brothers spoke every day on the telephone. ‘That is a great gift. In this way, no-one is alone.’
‘I very much hope that I can travel one more time to Rome to celebrate the 91st birthday of my brother on April 16.
‘But that is a long time away, who knows what will have happened by then,’ Ratzinger was quoted as saying.
Since resigning, Benedict, a conservative whose seven-year papacy was marked by mismanagement and financial scandals, has been living in a former convent in the Vatican gardens.
He makes only rare public appearances.
The Vatican had no immediate comment but a source close to the former pope said Benedict was continuing to receive visitors, including some just last week.
Georg Ratzinger led one of Germany’s most famous Roman Catholic choir schools, the Regensburger Domspatzen, or Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows, from 1964 to 1994.
Last year, an independent report found that more than 500 pupils there had been subjected to physical or sexual abuse between 1945 and 2015.
Ratzinger has acknowledged that he had slapped pupils in the face but said he had not realised how brutal the school’s discipline was.
Benedict, a German who in 2013 became the first pope in six centuries to resign, said earlier this month he was in ‘the last phase of life’ and on a ‘pilgrimage towards home’
Benedict, who in February 2013 became the first pope in six centuries to resign, last week wrote a letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper thanking readers for their best wishes as he approaches the fifth anniversary of stepping down.
‘I am moved that so many readers want to know how I spend my days in this, the last period of the life,’ he wrote.
‘I can only say that with the slow withering of my physical forces, interiorly, I am on a pilgrimage towards home.’
Those close to him say he is still sharp mentally but has mobility problems and needs a walker to get around.