Pope Emeritus Benedict: I look forward to seeing old friend in the afterlife

Retired Pope Benedict says he is looking forward to being reunited with an old friend in the afterlife ‘soon’ (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has said he hopes to soon join a beloved professor friend in “the afterlife”, in a sign that the 94-year-old pontiff is not only accepting his eventual death but welcoming it.

Benedict penned an October 2 letter to a German priest, thanking him for letting him know of the passing of the Reverend Gerhard Winkler, a Cistercian priest and academic colleague of the former Joseph Ratzinger.