Pope Francis says former Pope Benedict “very ill” and asks for prayers for him

Vatican City — Pope Francis stated Wednesday that former pontiff Benedict XVI, 95, whose well being has been steadily deteriorating, is “very ill” and he’s praying for him and would really like others to as effectively.

“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 referred to as on folks to “remember him, because he is very ill, asking the Lord to console and support him.”

CBS News requests for extra data from the Vatican have gone unanswered.

Benedict, who in 2013 turned the primary pontiff to resign in six centuries, has withdrawn virtually completely from public view.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 determination to turn out to be the primary pope since 1415 to surrender the job as head of the worldwide Catholic Church.

In April, Benedict’s long-time secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, instructed Vatican News the ex-pope was “physically relatively weak and fragile” however “in good spirits.”