Vatican City — Pope Francis stated Wednesday that his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is “very sick” and he’s praying for him and would really like the devoted to as nicely. Benedict is 95. His well being has been steadily deteriorating.
“I would like to ask all of you to pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict,” Francis stated on the finish of his common viewers, talking in Italian.
He known as on folks to “remember him, because he is very sick, asking the Lord to console and support him.”
The Vatican press workplace informed CBS News it does not know something extra about Benedict’s situation than what Francis stated.
Benedict, who in 2013 grew to become the primary pontiff to resign in six centuries, has withdrawn virtually solely from public view.
The few images which have emerged of him have proven him to be in more and more frail well being.
Back in 2013, he cited his declining bodily and psychological well being in his choice to change into the primary pope since 1415 to surrender the job as head of the worldwide Catholic Church.
The German pope emeritus, whose actual title is Joseph Ratzinger, has been residing a quiet life in a former convent contained in the Vatican.
His resignation created an unprecedented state of affairs through which two popes — Benedict and Francis — have co-existed inside the partitions of the tiny metropolis state.
In April, Benedict’s long-time secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, informed Vatican News the ex-pope was “physically relatively weak and fragile” however “in good spirits.”
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