Pope Francis asks for prayers for ailing Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

• The Supreme pontiff asks for prayers.
• Benedict XVI’s health is failing.
• Pope Francis requested support through prayer.

On Wednesday morning, the Supreme pontiff made a special request for all members of the Catholic faith after announcing one of its representatives is in poor health. Pope Francis requests prayers for the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

According to People en Español, Pope Francis asked for the support from the parishioners on December 28 with the following message: “I ask for a special prayer for Pope Benedict XVI who is supporting the Church in silence. He is very sick. Let us ask the Lord to console him and support him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end.»

Pope Francis asks for prayers for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

“Remember him, he is very sick» Francis pointed out. «Ask the Lord to console him, and sustain him in this testimony of love for the Church, until the end,» concluded the highest representative of the Catholic Church in his message.

The Associated Press highlights that Benedict XVI’s health has worsened due to his age and doctors are constantly monitoring the state of health of the pope emeritus, who is currently 95 years old, the Vatican reported on Wednesday.

«In the last hours there has been a deterioration due to his advanced age»

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who on Wednesday asked the faithful to pray for his predecessor, had come to visit him at the monastery in Rome where the pope emeritus has lived since he retired in February 2013.

«Regarding the health of the pope emeritus, for whom Pope Francis asked for prayers at the end of his general audience this morning, I can confirm that in the last few hours there has been a deterioration due to his advanced age,» Bruni said in a statement.

Pope Francis went to the monastery to visit Benedict XVI

After the audience, Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery to visit Benedict XVI. Notably, Benedict XVI — the first pope to resign in 600 years — has grown increasingly fragile in recent years, after devoting his post-papal life to prayer and meditation.

On his 95th birthday in April, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, said the pope emeritus was in good spirits, adding, «He is naturally physically relatively weak and fragile, but quite lucid.»

Benedict XVI has not been strong for a couple of years

The Pope visited him in the monastery four months ago. On that occasion, Francisco had appointed new cardinals and they accompanied him in the brief greeting. The Vatican then released a photo showing a very thin Benedict XVI shaking hands with Francis, both smiling.

In his early years of retirement, Benedict XVI attended a couple of ceremonies to appoint cardinals at the Basilica of Saint Peter. But in recent years, he hasn’t been strong enough to be present at the lengthy ceremony.