Report: Retired Pope Benedict XVI ill after visit to Germany

BERLIN (AP) — A German newspaper is reporting that Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has fallen ill after his return from a trip to his native Bavaria to visit his brother, who died a month ago. The daily Passauer Neue Presse on Monday quoted Peter Seewald, a biographer of the retired pontiff, as saying that the 93-year-old has been suffering from a facial infection since his return to Rome. The newspaper reported that Seewald, who has published several book-length interviews with Benedict, handed over a copy of the biography to the former pontiff on Saturday. He described Benedict as being optimistic although he is physically very frail.