Rome (dpa / lby) – Benedict XVI suffered from a painful rash on his face. According to his personal secretary Georg Gänswein, things are improving again. The Archbishop of the Curia told “Südkurier” on Monday: “The disease is easing”.
Since last week, the retired pope has “reduced drugs,” Gänswein told the newspaper at a cultural event in the Black Forest. Benedikt’s longtime secretary spent his vacation there.
According to Gänswein, the 93-year-old has been suffering from the viral illness since visiting his brother Georg Ratzinger’s deathbed in Regensburg in mid-June. “The pain came after the brother died,” Gänswein said of the infection, “which is very painful but does not result in death.”
The right half of the face is particularly affected by the rose of the face, a form of shingles. “It’s a pain that I don’t wish on my worst enemy,” Gänswein said.
The Vatican had already reported a “painful but not serious illness” the previous week.
