Former pope has 'shrunk in size' according to friend

FORMER pope Benedict XVI has lost so much weight he appears half his previous size, according to a cardinal who recently visited the ex-pontiff.

Pope Benedict XVI is said to be mentally capable but physically frail.
 

The 86-year-old became the first man to resign the papacy in nearly 600 years when he stood down earlier this year, to be replaced by Pope Francis.

His decision was based on his failing health, which appears to have deterioted in recent months.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, met with Benedict in March, and told the German Catholic News Agency (KNA) he was surprised by the size of the former pontiff.

He said: "I was shocked at how thin he had become. He looked like he had halved in size. At first I did not agree with his resignation. But when I saw him my reservations melted away. Mentally, however, he is quite fit, his old self." 

Benedict spent two months living in Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence outside Rome, before moving back into the Vatican recently.

It is the first time a former and current Pope have lived in the City together.