(CNN) — Pope Francis said Wednesday that his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, is “very ill” and asked for prayers for the 95-year-old former pope.
“I want to ask everyone for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict who supports the Church in his silence. He is very sick,” Francis said during his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.
“We ask the Lord to console him and sustain him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end.”
The Vatican issued a statement on the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict, saying there has been a deterioration in it. The statement notes that Pope Francis has visited Benedict.
“Regarding the state of health of the pope emeritus for whom Pope Francis asked for prayers at the end of the general audience this morning, I can confirm that in the last few hours there has been a deterioration due to his increasing age. The situation at this time remains under control and continuously monitored by his doctors,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican Press Office.
“At the end of the general audience, Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery to visit Benedict XVI. We join him in praying for the pope emeritus.”
In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world by making the almost unprecedented decision to resign his position citing “advanced age.”
Benedict’s announcement marked the first time a pope had resigned in nearly 600 years. The last pope to resign before his death was Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415 to end a civil war within the Catholic Church in which more than one man claimed to be pope.
