VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis asked for prayers Wednesday for his 95-year-old predecessor, Benedict, saying he is “very sick”.

 “I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the Church,” Francis said at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican.

 “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.”

 jp