Pope Francis informed on Wednesday that his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is very sick and urged everyone at the Vatican to pray for his recovery.
"I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the Church," Pope Francis told attendees.
"Let us remember him. He is very sick, asking the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end," the Pope added.
The Vatican also issued a statement saying, "the situation at the moment remains under control, constantly followed by doctors."
Pope Francis informed the attendees at Vatican about Benedict's ill-health and then went to meet him at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery.
Benedict XVI was 85 when in February 2013 he surprised Catholics around the world with his decision to step down, less than eight years after he had been elected Pope as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
He became the eighth German to become Pope and was known for his conservative, traditionalist views, campaigning against the social activism of liberation theology.
