Benedict off organ donor list, says Vatican

Benedict XVI has tried to scotch rumours that he carries an organ donor card, instructing his secretary to reveal that his ascension to the position of Holy Father means he can no longer bequeath his body parts to lesser mortals.

Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's personal secretary, fired off a letter to quell the rumours that began in the Pope's native Germany.

"It's true that a simple cardinal can have an organ donor card but, despite public declarations to the contrary, it ceased to apply when he was elected head of the Catholic Church," Gaenswein said.

In 1999, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger said he was on an organ-donor list. "I am available to offer my organs to whoever might need them. It is an act of love, of affection and generosity," he said at the time.

Gaenswein did not specify why the Pope could not donate his organs. But Archbishop Zymunt Zimowski of the Vatican health council said it was because his body effectively belonged to the entire Catholic Church.

- INDEPENDENT