{O/C}
Pope Francis asked for prayers for his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose health has deteriorated in recent days.
{RVO}
{Soundbite}
POPE FRANCIS, Voice of Interpretor, Head of the Catholic Church:
I'd like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Emeritus Pope Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the church.
I remind you that he is very sick.
Let's ask the Lord to comfort him and sustain him in this testimony of love to the church to the very end.
{VO}
In a statement a Vatican spokesman said Benedict was "lucid, alert and stable", but his health remained serious.
The ailing Pope Emeritus was the first pontiff to resign back in 2013 in nearly 600 years.
His health has been constantly monitored.
But Francis' call for prayers sparked fears that the former pope was near death.
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