A Vatican spokesman says the resigning Pope Benedict XVI will play no role in election of his successor.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi said Tuesday that "the pope will surely say absolutely nothing about the process of the election."

"He will not interfere in any way," Lombardi told reporters at a Vatican briefing.

Vatican Admits Pope Had Pacemaker

 

Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI (Alexander Heimann/Getty Images)
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The Vatican is acknowledging for the first time that Pope Benedict XVI has had a pacemaker for years and that its battery was replaced a few months ago in secret.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Benedict had the pacemaker installed "a long time" before he became pope in 2005. He called the latest medical procedure "routine."

It was the first time the Vatican has mentioned a papal pacemaker.

Italian daily Il Sole 24 said the pope had the pacemaker procedure less than three months ago in a Rome hospital and did not miss any public appearances.

Pope's Brother: Benedict Seeks Quiet Retirement

Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI's brother,
Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI's brother (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
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Pope Benedict XVI is planning to stay out of the public eye following his retirement at the end of the month and will probably not write any further works during his lifetime, his brother said Tuesday after talking with the pontiff.

Speaking to reporters in his home in the southern German city of Regensburg, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, who was ordained on the same day as the pope in 1951, said his brother also has no plans to move back to his German homeland.

"You don't transplant an old tree," the 89-year-old said.

The two are very close, however, and Ratzinger said he's already planning to visit his brother later in the year.

The 85-year-old Benedict shocked the world Monday by announcing that he planned to step down from the papacy at the end of the month.

For Ratzinger, however, the decision was no surprise.

"He has been thinking about it for several months," he said. "He concluded that his powers are falling victim to age."

He talked with the pope by telephone on Monday evening after the announcement and said his brother was now hoping to lead a quiet life in the Vatican. Though he was a prolific writer before and during his papacy, Ratzinger said that was now likely to end.

"I don't think he will write any new works," Ratzinger said.

Rudolf Voderholzer, the bishop of Regensburg who is also in charge of the pope's theological institute that publishes his work, said that even if Benedict does write, no new works would be published during his lifetime.

"Anything he published could be conceived as interference in the work of the next pope," he said.

As for his successor, Ratzinger said his brother "feels that a younger person is needed to deal with the problems of the times."

Asked whether the time had come for a pope from outside of Europe, Ratzinger said that could happen in future, but not immediately.

"For now I think the job will remain with a European," he said.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

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