Insomnia suffered by Pope Benedict XVI was a “central cause” of his resignation in 2013.As he revealed in a letter addressed to his biographer, Peter Seewald, a few weeks before his death, and revealed this Friday by the German weekly Focus.
In a letter sent on 28 October, Joseph Ratzinger explains the “main reason” for his resignation as head of the Catholic Church in February 2013. had “insomnia that [lo] with no interruption since the World Youth Day in Cologne”, In August 2005, months after becoming the successor of John Paul II.
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His personal physician then prescribed “powerful remedies”, Which first allowed him to keep up with the workload. But according to the retired Pope, sleeping pills eventually reach their “limit.” He also may have had an incident during a trip to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012.
the morning after the first night, Benedict XVI confirms his handkerchief was “completely covered in blood”According to the letter cited by Focus. The pontiff writes, “I must have hit myself somewhere in the bathroom and I fell.”
The doctor made it so that the wounds were not visibleAnd a new personal doctor insisted after the incident that the German Pope’s sleeping pills be curtailed. Similarly, he advised them to appear only in the morning during foreign visits. In the letter, Ratzinger says he is aware that these medical restrictions were “only sustainable for a short period of time.”
This confirmation prompted him to announce his resignation in February 2013, months before World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, which he did not see himself able to “confront”. As such, he resigned early enough so that his successor, Pope Francis, could follow on a trip to Brazil.,
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who shocked the world with his resignation, has died at the cloister in the Vatican Gardens where he lived in retirement. His papacy was marked by several crises, such as the Vatican scandal in 2012, which exposed a wide-ranging network of corruption in the Vatican, or cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by religious in various countries around the world.
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