Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI remains “absolutely full of zest for life,” Archbishop Georg Gänswein reported, despite his recent remark that he looks forward to joining old friends in the afterlife.

Archbishop Gänswein remarked that Benedict has been practicing “the art of dying well” for “many years” now. He said that the 94-year-old former Pontiff is “stable in his weakness, crystal-clear in his head.”