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The 94-year–old retired pope regularly gets visitors, as he did last Saturday when the most recent recipients of the Ratzinger Prize came round to see him
By Loup Besmond de Senneville | Vatican City
Every so often photographs appear on social media of the elderly retired pope, Benedict XVI, greeting visitors at his home inside the Vatican Gardens.
The most recent pictures of the 94-year-old Bishop-emeritus of Rome came last Saturday when he welcomed the most recent recipients of the Ratzinger Prize, which some have called the "Nobel of Theology".
They included Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger, Jean-Luc Marion and Tracey Rowland.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the foundation's president, accompanied the prize recipients on their visit to Benedict's home.
Earlier that morning they had attended a special ceremony in Clementine Hall inside the Apostolic Palace where Pope Francis presented them with their awards.
"Let us not forget that Benedict XVI continued to study and write until the end of his pontificate," the pope told the prize winners.
"About ten years ago, while fulfilling his governmental responsibilities, he was busy completing his trilogy on Jesus and thus leaving us a unique personal testimony of his constant search for the face of the Lord," the Argentine pope continued.
"Inspired and encouraged" by Benedict XVI's prayer
He said that search for God was "the most important search of all" and he noted that it is something that Benedict XVI "then continued to pursue in prayer".
"We feel inspired and encouraged by it, and we assure him of our remembrance to the Lord and of our prayers," Francis added.
After the awards ceremony the theologians then made their way to Benedict's residence at the refurbished Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, which was originally designed to house cloistered nuns.
The former pope and his private secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, have lived here since 2013 when he abdicated the papacy.
Several consecrated virgins who belong to the Memores Domini Association connected to "Comunione e Liberazione" also live at the complex, where they provide home care.
The visit of the Ratzinger Prize recipients last Saturday was not out of the ordinary. In fact, Benedict, who will be 95-years-old in April, regularly receives visitors, including cardinals who are close to him.
He even sees political leaders from time to time.
Manfred Weber, the president of the center-right European People's Party (EPP) alliance in the European Parliament, recently stopped to see the former pope.
And so did Bernhard Kotsch, Germany's new ambassador to the Holy See.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Archbishop Bishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poland called on Benedict XVI last September when they were in Rome for the general assembly of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE).
Members of the Regensburger Domspatzen, the cathedral choir in Regensburg that the late Georg Ratzinger (Benedict's brother) conducted for many years, came to see the retired Bavarian pope last summer.
Those who have had the chance to see the elderly Benedict all say he's still lucid.
He now speaks so softly, however, that his private secretary has to help convey what he's trying to say.
Nonetheless, Benedict's mind remains sharp and he remembers precise details of previous encounters.
"He is tired, but he is in his right mind," said one of his recent visitors.
The former pope also receives an abundance of correspondence, which always passes through the Holy See's Secretariat of State, which is also responsible for the pope's mail.
The state of Benedict's health, like that of his Jesuit successor, is routinely the subject of speculation.
Recently, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign has made both men eligible for the third dose of the vaccine, offered in the Vatican to the most fragile or elderly.
The battle against same-sex marriage
Benedict's most recent public comments came a few months ago in an introduction for a new book, in which he strongly criticized same-sex marriage as being "in contradiction to all the cultures of humanity".
The former pope also gave a brief, but rare interview to an Italian journalist last March about his decision to step down.
"It was a difficult decision. But I made it in full awareness, and I think I did the right thing," he told Corriere della Sera.
"Some of my somewhat 'fanatical' friends are still angry, they haven't accepted my choice... They don't want to believe in a consciously made decision," Benedict said.
"But my conscience is clear," he added.
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