Pope Francis said Wednesday that his predecessor, 95-year-old Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is “very sick” and asked his audience to pray for the former pontiff.
Driving the news: The Vatican said in a statement Benedict’s condition was “worsening due to advanced age” and that Francis had gone to visit his predecessor.
- He is now under the constant supervision of doctors, but the “situation remains under control,” Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said.
- Benedict now lives in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery on Vatican grounds, where he moved shortly after becoming the first pope to resign in 600 years in 2013.
What’s happening: Francis made the remarks at the end of a general audience at the Vatican but didn’t discuss the specifics of Benedict’s condition.
- “I’d like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Emeritus Pope Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the church,” Francis said, according to a translation from AP. ” I remind you that he is very sick.”
- “Let’s ask the Lord to comfort him and sustain him in this testimony of love to the church to the very end.”
