Vatican, 28 December, 2022 / 7:54 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis on Wednesday asked for prayers for a “very ill” Benedict XVI.
Francis made the appeal for the 95-year-old pope emeritus at the end of his weekly public audience on Dec. 28 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.
“I ask to all of you a special prayer for the pope emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the Church,” he said.
“Remember him — he is very ill — asking the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end.”
Benedict XVI, who reigned as pope from 2005 until his resignation on Feb. 28, 2013, lives in a former monastery in the gardens of Vatican City.