Vatican: Ex-pope Benedict's illness 'no particular cause for worry'

Former Pope Benedict XVI's health problems are "no particular cause for worry," the Vatican told dpa on Monday, in response to reports that had claimed the ex-pontiff was seriously ill.

Under advisement from Benedict's personal secretary, Georg Gaenswein, the Vatican's press office wrote dpa that, aside from the the fact that Benedict is 93 years old, he was "ready to overcome a highly acute phase of a painful, but not serious, illness."

German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse had quoted Benedict's biographer, Peter Seewald, as saying that the former pope was "extremely frail" when Seewald visited him on Saturday and that Benedict's voice was barely audible.

Benedict - born Joseph Ratzinger - has been "seriously ill" since a visit to see his brother, Georg, on his deathbed in Bavaria in June, the paper said. Georg Ratzinger died on July 1, aged 96.

The Vatican did not clarify which illness is afflicting Benedict.