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‘I am on a pilgrimage toward Home’: Pope Benedict XVI writes frankly of his nearing death

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February 8, 2018 at 8:24 a.m. EST
Pope Benedict XVI waved as he arrived in St Peter’s Square for his final general audience on Feb. 27, 2013, when he stepped down because of age. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Benedict XVI spent almost eight years as pope, and the past five years as something no man has been since the 15th century — pope emeritus.

Now, the pontiff who stunned the Vatican by retiring from the position in February 2013 says he is headed toward his next step: “I am on a pilgrimage toward Home.”

Writing in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he capitalized the word “Casa” to refer to his heavenly home.

‘I do not see myself as a failure’: Benedict’s post-papacy memoir

Now 90 years old, Benedict says he has heard from many well-wishers, including readers of the Italian paper, who “want to know how I am experiencing this last period of my life.”

According to widely published translations of Benedict’s short letter, he said that his physical strength is diminishing. “It is a great grace in this last, sometimes tiring stage of my journey, to be surrounded by a love and kindness that I never could have imagined,” he wrote.

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