• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Retired Pope Benedict XVI smiles at Germany's Munich Airport before his departure to Rome June 22, 2020. Pope Benedict, who is 93, traveled to Germany to see his ailing older brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, who is 96. (CNS photo/Sven Hoppe, pool via Reuters)

German author says retired Pope Benedict is ‘extremely frail’

August 3, 2020
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn
Retired Pope Benedict XVI speaks to his private secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, at Germany’s Munich Airport before his departure to Rome June 22, 2020. An author with a long and close relationship to Pope Benedict told a German newspaper that the 93-year-old retired pope is “extremely frail.” (CNS photo/Sven Hoppe, pool via Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — An author with a long and close relationship to retired Pope Benedict XVI told a German newspaper that the 93-year-old retired pope is “extremely frail.”

Peter Seewald, the author who has published four wide-ranging book-length interviews with the retired pope, was quoted in the Aug. 3 edition of the Bavarian newspaper Passauer Neue Presse.

Seewald said he visited with Pope Benedict Aug. 1 to present him with a copy of the authorized biography, “Benedict XVI: A Life.”

The retired pope lives in the Mater Ecclesia monastery in the Vatican Gardens. Seewald said he visited with the former pontiff there in the company of Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict’s personal secretary.

Passauer Neue Presse reported Seewald describing Pope Benedict as “extremely frail,” and as saying that while he is mentally sharp, his voice is barely audible.

The Vatican press office said late Aug. 3 that Archbishop Ganswein insisted there was no reason “for particular concern” over the retired pope’s health “other than that of a 93-year-old who is overcoming the most acute phase of a painful, but not serious, illness” — herpes zoster, commonly known as shingles.

Pope Benedict had traveled to Regensburg, Germany, in late June to visit his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, who was ill and died July 1. Seewald reportedly told the newspaper that Pope Benedict returned to the Vatican “seriously ill” and that he was suffering from a painful case of shingles on his face.

The newspaper also reported that, according to Pope Benedict’s spiritual testament, he wants to be buried in the grotto under St. Peter’s Basilica in the chapel where St. John Paul II originally was laid to rest before being moved upstairs to the St. Sebastian Chapel in the basilica after his beatification in 2011.

In 1981, Pope John Paul had called him to serve as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The two worked closely for the next 24 years, until St. John Paul’s death in 2005.

Copyright © 2020 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Cindy Wooden

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • St John the Evangelist in Severna Park celebrates its newly renovated church

  • Three philanthropists remembered for support of Archdiocese of Baltimore causes

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Catholic schools convocation celebrates teachers

  • Sister Kathleen Shannon, Baltimore native and math teacher, dies at 70

  • Jesuit Father James Salmon, noted Loyola professor, dies at 100

| Latest Local News |

Football coaches eager to make a difference in new roles at Baltimore-area Catholic schools 

Brother Michael Madden, O.F.M., Baltimore native and artisan, dies in Florida

Archdiocese of Baltimore schools celebrate first day of school

Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Catholic schools convocation celebrates teachers

Three philanthropists remembered for support of Archdiocese of Baltimore causes

| Latest World News |

Amid Russian attacks, Ukraine’s religious leaders plead for Pope Leo’s help in returning abducted children

Archbishop Hebda prays for community’s peace, fortitude, consolation after school shooting

Experts: Churches, schools must act on ‘unique vulnerability’ in their security

Pope Leo joins U.S. bishops in mourning victims of Catholic school shooting

Archbishop Hebda after Catholic school shooting: We ask for your prayers and action, rooted in hope

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Amid Russian attacks, Ukraine’s religious leaders plead for Pope Leo’s help in returning abducted children
  • Archbishop Hebda prays for community’s peace, fortitude, consolation after school shooting
  • Experts: Churches, schools must act on ‘unique vulnerability’ in their security
  • Pope Leo joins U.S. bishops in mourning victims of Catholic school shooting
  • Archbishop Hebda after Catholic school shooting: We ask for your prayers and action, rooted in hope
  • Live, act on faith; avoid ‘split’ personality, pope tells politicians
  • Amid nation’s divisions over immigration, church stands as ‘beacon of hope,’ say Iowa bishops
  • Football coaches eager to make a difference in new roles at Baltimore-area Catholic schools 
  • 10 times Pope Leo has included a St. Augustine quote in his public addresses

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en