[Sanctaria]

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[floatleft]VOL. C .. Num. 36,363[/floatleft]SATURDAY, JULY 07, 2018[floatright]1 SANCTARIAN POUND[/floatright]

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PATRIARCH SIMON XVI COMATOSE AND "PEACEFULLY DRIFTING TO THE HEAVENLY FATHER"
by EDWARD ALLENS, Religion Correspondent

Sanctus - The Patriarchal Palace this evening announced via their press office that the life of Patriarch Simon XVI was "slowly coming to a close" as they revealed the head of the Sanctarian Catholic Church was in a coma following what they called a "cardiac episode" that occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning. Msgr. Peter Montague, the Church's communications director, confirmed the Patriarch's doctors were with him, monitoring his progress, but did not expect the Patriarch to recover; "he is peacefully drifting to the heavenly father", Msr. Montague told reporters in the regular Saturday evening press gaggle.

Patriarch Simon XVI has been head of the Sanctarian Catholic Church, also known as the Church of Sanctaria, since September 2003 when he succeeded Simon XV. Prior to becoming the Archbishop of Sanctus, and thereby Patriarch of the Church itself, he was an auxiliary Bishop in Corpus; he was the first non Sanctus or Haven Archbishop or Bishop to be translated to the See of Sanctus in over 700 years.

Simon XVI's current state of health was announced this evening prior to the weekly Sunday Mass celebrated by the Patriarch in Sanctus. The health of the Patriarch is usually kept as a private affair with the public and church-goers not usually notified of any ill health unless hospitalisation or death occurs. Msgr. Montague confirmed that Sunday Mass would be going ahead in all dioceses and parishes as expected, with an auxiliary bishop celebrating the Mass in the Basilica of St. George in Heaven in place of the Patriarch.

When pushed on the current state of affairs of the 88-year-old Patriarch, Msgr. Montague said that though the respected theologian is currently in a coma, and is not expected to awake, doctors said they were not expecting an imminent death. "Out of respect", Msgr. Montague said, he would "not be commenting further on His Holiness". Sources close to the doctors attending Simon XVI, however, have said that while death does not look imminent, he is not expected to survive the coming week.