Pope Francis Asks Prayers For ‘Very Sick’ Pope Emeritus, Benedict
Pope Francis 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”
Joy Kalu 
The Vatican has confirmed that the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has encountered a sudden decline in his health but is now stable and under medical care.
Matteo Bruni, the Holy See Press Office director, disclosed the development to journalists on Wednesday, December 28, 2022.
Bruni said Pope Francis had asked for prayers for Benedict’s health.
He added that Pope Francis visited the 95-year-old pope emeritus where he lives, in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, after his general audience on Wednesday morning.
“I can confirm that in the last few hours, there has been a worsening due to advancing age,” he said.
Bruni also quoted Pope Francis saying 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”.
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.
