This was the nurse’s statement to Joseph Ratzinger’s private secretary, Monsignor Georg Conswein, according to the Vatican’s official newspaper.Vatican news‘.
At 03:00 this Saturday, six hours before his death, at the age of 95, Benedict XVI, seriously ill but not yet dead, assured a nurse who heard him say the phrase “Lord, I love you” in Italian. Doesn’t speak German.
“Benedict XVI, in a low voice but clearly, said in Italian ‘Lord, I love you.’ I wasn’t there at the time, but that’s what the nurse told me later. These words are the last words that can be understood, because after that he was unable to express himself again,” said Monsignor Georg Conswein.
The Holy See published Ratzinger’s spiritual testimony on August 29, 2009, in which, among other messages, he apologized “from the bottom of my heart” to those he had harmed throughout his life.
The remains of the Pope Emeritus will be on display in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. This will enable the faithful who wish to pay their last respects to him from Monday, the 2nd of this month.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI resigned from the Church on February 11, 2013 for health reasons, two months before celebrating eight years in office.
Joseph Ratzinger, who was pope between 2005 and 2013, was born in Marktl am Inn in the German diocese of Basa in 1927, becoming the first German to head the Catholic Church in centuries and a representative of the church’s most hardline line. .
Sexual abuse of minors by priests and the “Whatleaks,” the revelation of secret papal documents, are issues that have roiled his parish.
Benedict XVI called the abuses a “heinous crime” and apologized to the victims.
Benedict XVI’s funeral will be held on Thursday in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican at 9:30 a.m. local (8:30 a.m. in Lisbon), with Pope Francis presiding.
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