Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is “very sick”, Pope Francis has said, asking for prayers for his predecessor at the end of his general audience on Wednesday.
“I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the Church,” said Francis in an unexpected addition to his remarks at the weekly audience.
“Let us remember him.”
He said that the former Pope is “very sick, asking the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end”.
The Vatican, which issued a prayer for “your sick servant Benedict”, confirmed that the Pope Emeritus has experienced a sudden decline in his health, but is stable and under medical care.
“I can confirm that in the last few hours there has been a worsening due to advancing age. The situation at the moment remains under control, constantly followed by doctors,” said the Holy See Press Office director, Matteo Bruni.
Bruni added that Pope Francis went after his general audience to visit the 95-year-old Pope Emeritus at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where he lives with a small staff and medical team.
The Vatican statement said that it joins Pope Francis “in praying for the Pope Emeritus”.
Benedict turned 95 on Holy Saturday this year, 16 April.
On the occasion, his private secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein told Vatican News that the Pope Emeritus was “of course physically relatively weak and frail, but lucid”.
Archbishop Gänswein said that Benedict no longer celebrated Mass at Easter as the main celebrant, “because he no longer has the strength to stand up all the time, and he no longer has the strength in his voice”.
He continued: “Nevertheless he follows the liturgy and he participates in it concelebrating, with great inner emphasis. He also draws new strength from it, day after day, for his life.”
Earlier this month, Pope Francis praised the “spiritual presence and accompaniment in prayer” which Benedict offers the Church, in an address to the winners of the 2022 Ratzinger Prize.
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