Pope Francis asks for prayers for former Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI Former head of the Catholic Church health was very poor.

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On Wednesday Pope Francis say for the player to present a weekly audience for the retired Pope Benedict XVI.

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Francis advised people to beg God to comfort Benedict and "support him in this witness of love to the church, till the end" in their prayers.

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A Vatican spokeswoman subsequently stated that "there has been a deterioration due to the advancing of (Benedict's) age in the previous few hours."

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"For the time being, the situation is under control and is being closely observed by his physicians," spokesman Matteo Bruni said, adding that Francis paid a visit to his predecessor at the Mater Ecclesiae convent in Vatican City following his general audience.

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In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI startled the world by announcing his resignation from the papacy, citing "advanced age."

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Benedict's declaration marked the first time in over 600 years that a pope has stood down. Gregory XII resigned in 1415 to resolve a civil war inside the Catholic Church in which more than one man claimed to be the pope.

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2 years before Pope Benedict told in a rare public letter published in the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera that "with the steady diminishing of my physical energies, inwardly I am on a pilgrimage toward Home."

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Benedict's reputation has been tainted by recent criticism of his tenure as Archbishop of Munich and Freising between 1977 and 1982, after the publication of a Church-commissioned inquiry into abuse by Catholic clergy there in January.

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According to the investigation, he was aware of four incidences of sexual abuse involving kids, including two during his tenure in Munich, but did nothing, and he attended a meeting concerning an abusive priest.

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Benedict later reacted to the claims, confirming he had attended the meeting but denied he had purposefully disguised his attendance.

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