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The former Pope is awake and lucid, but aware of his deteriorating health.

Earlier this week, the current Pope Francis announced that his predecessor, 95-year-old Pope Benedict XVI, was in a state of declining health. Benedict’s health has been in decline for several years due to his advanced age, and his caretakers are preparing for the worst.

“I want to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict who sustains the Church in his silence. He is very sick,” Francis said during his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday. “We ask the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church to the very end.”

Today, the Vatican staff gave an update on Benedict’s health, saying that though his health has not improved, the Pope Emeritus is awake and lucid. “He is absolutely lucid and vigilant and today while his condition remains serious, the situation at the moment is stable,” Vatican press office director Matteo Bruni said in a statement.

“Pope Francis renews his invitation to pray for him and accompany him in these difficult hours.”

On Wednesday, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, DC asked “folks of good will to pray for Benedict XVI,” in a Twitter post.

The Vatican says that retired Pope Benedict’s health is “worsening” — and Pope Francis is asking the faithful to pray for the 95-year-old. https://t.co/JcdSnfDnmJ pic.twitter.com/w5eipw6QyD

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) December 28, 2022

“He served our Church in many roles – priest, scholar, diocesan bishop, curial official, & Pontiff. May Christ reward him for his loving service,” Gregory said of Benedict.

Benedict is a somewhat controversial figure, as he served as Pope during major sexual abuse scandal that affected the Catholic church in decades past. A representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said that its members are mixed on their feelings about Benedict’s declining health. “Sadly, many clergy abuse victims are not out of the woods in terms of healing from their wounds and getting the justice they deserve,” the rep said in a public statement.