VATICAN CITY (AP) - Retired Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 88th birthday Thursday with a party and a pint of beer. Photos released by the Vatican newspaper Thursday showed the German pope toasting a group of Bavarians in the Vatican gardens accompanied by his older brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, and his longtime private secretary. Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Benedict's honor Thursday morning, saying he hopes God "supports him and gives him much joy and happiness." In recent interviews on the eve of the birthday, Benedict's secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, said the retired pope feels his age and thinks about his own mortality. "The emeritus pope thinks about death and is preparing for his death," Gaenswein said in an interview with Mediaset television this week.