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What the Vatican keeps silent
Already in 1991 announced the serious illness - but the Vatican officials weighed repeatedly
St. Peter's Basilica on Ash Wednesday, Day of Atonement. It is the last Mass of the Pope. With uncertain steps Pope Benedict XVI. (85) behind the huge altar towards a servant with censer. As the Holy Father takes over the dainty device, it almost falls down. Then it rests motionless in his hand, the Pope can no longer swing it - too weak.
Benedikt reaches for help to the altar plate, holds on tight. He is dizzy. The whole world can see it: Here an old gentleman celebrates the Mass, which does not belong behind the altar but in a hospital bed.
"I can no longer properly fill the Petrine ministry, " Benedict XVI said . announced last week in a fragile voice - and had resigned from the Pope's office. "Pope is not sick, " read shortly after Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi (70), "he feels only weak - the age!"
Is that correct? From Rome and church circles in the US, news is now seeping through, which solidifies the faithful. It seems that the Vatican is keeping silent about the truth about the state of the Pope. Does Benedict have only a few weeks to live?
For in an American Catholic medical college current x-rays of the brain Benedict have arrived. You should show a tumor! And in Rome, witnesses were watching Dr. Patrizio Polisca (59), the "Archiatros pontificio" (personal physician of the Pope), visited a neurosurgical center. To consult with specialists?
So, is Benedict really deadly, is that the reason for his resignation? One thing is certain: in 1991 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger suffered a stroke. So far, according to the Vatican, it has always been said that it was a minor stroke. Now it came out: It was a life-threatening cerebral hemorrhage! Did this disease promote the development of a tumor?
Even otherwise, the Vatican officials like to play down Benedikt's condition. For example, few knew that the Holy Father has been wearing a pacemaker for years. Three months ago he had to undergo another heart surgery. In addition, revealed his biographer Peter Seewald (58), Benedict is almost blind in the left eye and barely hears on the left ear. In addition, osteoarthritis in hips and knees - the pope urgently needs rest.
"I will lead a life away from the world, " the outgoing Holy Father announced. But how long will he be left? Years? Weeks? This is in the hands of the one to whom Benedict consecrated his life: in the hands of God.
