ROME — Pope Francis called on the faithful Wednesday to offer prayers for his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who he said is “very ill.”

“I would like to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who is supporting the Church in silence,” the pontiff told the faithful gathered in the Vatican for his weekly general audience.

“Remember him — he is very ill — asking the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end,” Francis added.

Asked later for a clarification, papal spokesman Matteo Bruni said he could confirm “that in the last few hours his condition has worsened due to age.”

File/Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (R) stands by Pope Francis in St Peter’s basilica before the opening of the “Holy Door” to mark the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, on December 8, 2015 in Vatican. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

“At present the situation is under control, monitored constantly by doctors,” Bruni said, adding that at the end of the general audience Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican to visit the 95-year-old Benedict.

Pope Benedict made history in February 2013 when he announced his decision to resign from the papacy, the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years.

Following Benedict’s resignation a papal conclave was convoked, in which Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected, taking the name of Francis.