Pope Francis on Wednesday asked the
faithful to pray for his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict
XVI, who he said was "very sick" at the age of 95.
Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience in the
Vatican, Francis asked for a "special prayer" for the German
ex-pontiff, who became the first pope to resign in 600 years
when he stepped down due to ill health on February 11, 2013.
The man born Joseph Ratzinger had taken over from Polish pope
Saint John Paul II on April 19, 2005.
"I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope
Emeritus Benedict who in silence is supporting the Church,"
Francis said after his audience in the Vatican.
Remembering him, he is very ill, asking the Lord to console him,
to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the
end".
The 86-year-old Francis is himself not in the best of health and
has often been forced to use a wheelchair due to chronic knee
pain.
On Wednesday he used a stick to get around during the audience.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni subsequently said: ""Regarding
the health conditions 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 recent hours there has been
an aggravation due to advancing age.
"The situation at the moment remains under control, followed
constantly by the doctors.
At the end of the general audience Pope Francis went to the
mater Ecclesiae monastery to visit Benedict XVI. We join with
him in prayer for the Pope Emeritus".
Benedict's condition had already worsened in the days before
Christmas, qualified sources told ANSA ater Wednesday, when "he
began to experience respiratory problems".
Benedict XVI spent Christmas at the former Mater Ecclesiae
monastery where a personal Mass for him was celebrated at home
in the little chapel, the sources said, adding that the former
pope was getting treatment.
Mathematician and atheism campaigner Piergiorgio Odifreddi said
after a recent meeting with the pope emeritus that he was "by
now completely unable to speak".
The bombshell news that Benedict was to become the first pope to
resign since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so on his
own initiative since Celestine V in 1294, was broken by ANSA
Vaticanist Giovanna Chirri thanks to her knowledge of Latin, the
language in which the pope had cited poor health for his reasons
in quitting, unbeknownst to the unwitting rest of the Vatican
press corps.
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