The Pope has asked to pray for Benedict XVI, 95, whose health conditions are extremely weak, and has pointed out that

"he is very ill."

Francis has thus requested a "special prayer" for the pope emeritus "who in silence sustains the Church."

"He is very sick.

Let us ask God to comfort him and sustain him

in his testimony of love for the Church until the end," the pontiff said during the general audience this Wednesday.

The German Joseph Ratzinger became the

first pope in six centuries to renounce the pontificate in

2013 , and since then he has lived practically

withdrawn from the public spotlight

, in the

Mater Ecclesiae convent

inside Vatican City.

According to the few photographs that have been published of him, his health has been deteriorating.

In 2013 he mentioned precisely his physical decline as one of the reasons why he decided to resign from continuing to be the head of the Catholic Church.

In April, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, told

Vatican News

that the emeritus pope was "relatively weak" though "in good spirits."

His health, due to age, is very fragile, but his mind still works very well, as his personal secretary Georg Gänswein has explained in various statements.

Although today's statements by Pope Francis suggest a worsening of his health conditions.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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