Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the leader of Italy's bishop’s conference, has asked Italians to pray for former Pope Benedict XVI "in this moment of suffering and trial.”
In his regular weekly audience, current Pope Francis reminded Catholics of Benedict’s devotion.
"Let us remember him. He is very sick, asking the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end," Francis said, speaking in Italian.
Let us #PrayTogether for Pope Emeritus Benedict who is supporting the Church in silence. Let us ask the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) December 28, 2022
Born in Germany, Benedict, whose mother was from what is now considered the Autonomous Province of Bolzano–South Tyrol in Northern Italy, served as Pope from April 2005 to February 2013. According to reports, Benedicts was living in a former convent inside the Vatican gardens as of late.
During his time as the Bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church, Benedict took eight journeys within Italy. Benedict’s final journey within Italy came in October 2012 when he visited Loreto, a hill town of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche, commonly known as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site.
In January 2022, a report on sexual abuse faulted Benedict’s handling of several cases when he served as archbishop in Germany’s Munich diocese in the 1970s and 1980s. During his time serving as Pope, Benedict was criticized for not acting against widespread child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic church. In 2010, he admitted that the church “did not act quickly or firmly enough to take the necessary action.”
SOURCE: Reuters