Capuchin Bishop Wilhelm Egger,Pope Benedict's Host On His Recent Vacation In Northern Italy, Dies

Pope Benedict XVI is mourning the death of a Capuchin bishop who was his host during an Alpine vacation this month.

Benedict told pilgrims at his summer palace in Castel Gandolfo near Rome that he felt "profound emotion" when he learned of the death Saturday night of 68-year-old Bressanone Bishop Wilhelm Egger. Benedict said on Sunday that when he bid goodbye to the bishop on Aug. 11 in the mountain town that Egger seemed to be in good health.

Italian news reports said Egger died of a heart attack. Egger, a native of Innsbruck, Austria, was bishop of the German-speaking town in Italy's South Tyrol region.

Benedict's maternal grandmother was born near Bressanone, and the pope vacationed in the area many times when he was a German cardinal.

Bishop Egger, a world-renowned Scripture scholar, became a Capuchin in 1956 and a bishop in 1986.