By Sam Eyoboka & Olayinka
Latona with Agency reports The Pope had a pacemaker
fitted less than three months
before the announcement of
his resignation, in an
operation that had remained
a secret until Tuesday. SPECULATIONS about Pope
Benedict XVI’s declining
health and the bitter power
struggles in the Vatican
gripped the world following
the shock news of the pontiff’s resignation. It emerged that the 85-year-
old Benedict—who abdicated
on health grounds—visited a
Rome hospital just three
months ago to have a new
pacemaker fitted. Father Federico Lombardi, the
Vatican’s chief spokesman,
confirmed the report, saying:
“It is correct that (the pace-
maker) was substituted but it
is not relevant to the Holy Father’s decision to stand
down.” Fr. Lombardi told journalists
“no specific illnesses”
were behind Pope
Benedict’s decision, in an
attempt to squash speculation
that he was suffering from a terminal illness. Italy’s leading daily broad-
sheet, Corriere della Sera,
suggested instead that the
abdication was motivated by
the “Vatileaks” scandal,
which saw confidential papers stolen by Benedict’s
butler, Paolo Gabriele, and
disclosed to the press last
year. Gabriele, who was
jailed and then pardoned by
the Pope in December, claimed he was trying to
expose corruption at the Holy
See and unmask individuals
who were attempting to
manipulate the pontiff. It was the first time that
Benedict’s need for the
device had been revealed by
the Vatican. But officials insisted that the
Pope’s heart condition had
nothing to do with his decision
to step down after eight
years in office, just as they
have maintained that the dramatic step was not
motivated by the scandal and
intrigue that buffeted
Benedict’s eight-year
papacy. The pacemaker was a re-
placement for one which had
been fitted about 10 years
ago, before he was elected
John Paul II’s successor in
2005. The fitting of the new pace-
maker was carried out by
heart surgeons at the Pius XI
medical clinic in Rome. The operation went so well
that the Pope made a speedy
recovery and did not even
miss his weekly Angelus
address, which is held each
Sunday. Benedict commissioned three
of his most loyal cardinals to
write a report into the affair,
which some are now claiming
was the tipping point in his
decision to step aside. Experts have suggested that the
report—which was
immediately shelved by the
Pope—may have revealed a
major conspiracy to discredit
his papacy and also smear his unpopular de facto Prime
Minister, Tarcisio Bertone. Benedict’s tenure was a
turbulent one, even by
Vatican standards. Relatively
liberal comments by the new
Minister for the Family,
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, which were reported just last
week, underlined the battle
between ultra-conservative
figures such as Benedict and
more progressive elements
in the Church. Archbishop Paglia appeared
to back calls for civil partner-
ships for gays and called for
an end to discrimination at
the most recent International
Meeting on the Family in Milan. Fr. Lombardi claimed the
archbishop’s comments
were entirely consistent with
the Church’s position on the
issue, despite Benedict’s
notoriously conservative declarations on the subject. Another veteran of the Holy
See, John Thavis, author of
the forthcoming book, Vatican
Diaries, told The Independent
he thought Benedict was
happy to go “because he has achieved every major thing
he’s set out to do. He is
feeling frailer. You could see
it at Christmas, he was
obviously weaker. And he
thinks he had achieved his main objectives: the series of
three books on the life of
Jesus of Nazareth and the
launch of the New
Evangelisation campaign.” Mr. Thavis said, however,
that the resignation might
have lasting repercussions.
“This Pope has resigned at
85. The next one might resign
at 75. Maybe the Church will feel compelled to elect
younger popes from now
on.” Benedict will continue his
ordinary duties until
February 28. At 8.00 p.m. that
day he will cease to be Pope.
He will remove his pontifical
ring, which will be destroyed. The Catholic world will have
to wait for a new pontiff to be
elected by papal conclave of
cardinals, which is expected
to meet within about two
weeks of his resignation. Fr. Lombardi said the exact
date of the conclave was still
being decided, because the
rarity of a papal resignation
meant Vatican experts were
still interpreting canonical law in order to decide when
to hold it. www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/vatican-admits-pope-benedict-had-secret-heart-surgery/