His former professor colleague, the priest Dr. Gerhard Winkler, died at the end of September. And in a letter of condolence, Benedict described how he hoped to join the afterlife “soon”.

       An excerpt from the letter reads: “Now he has reached the afterlife, where many friends are certainly waiting for him.

       “I hope that I can join them soon.”

       Dr Winkler was a professor at the University of Regensburg along with Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

       The former head of the Catholic Church was deeply affected by the news the professor had died.

       He said in the letter: “Of all my colleagues and friends, he was closest to me.

       “His cheerfulness and deep faith have always drawn me in."

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       The letter sent by the Pope Benedict was dated on October 2.

       It was made public by the Cistercian Abbey Wilhering in Austria on Tuesday.

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       Pope Benedict XVI has been in ill health. Private secretary Archbishop Georg G？nswein spoke about his health in the summer of this year.

       He told Vatican News: "There is simply a diminishing, so to speak, and that's part of dying, as they say in Bavaria.”

       The retired pope has been living in a monastery in the Vatican Gardens since his departure from office in 2013.

       The Pope visited his brother, Georg Ratzinger, prior to his death last year in Bavaria.