Pope Benedict XVI health: Pope Francis calls for prayers as Benedict 'very sick'

Pope Francis, left, during a visit to Pope Benedict XVI at his residence of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican in 2020.

Former Pope Benedict XVI is said to be very sick, amid calls to keep the former Cardinal Ratzinger in their prayers.

Pope Francis made the surprise announcement at the end of his general audience, and said that Pope Benedict, who stepped down in 2013, is "very sick".

Benedict, now aged 95, was the first pope in around 600 years to resign, and has since been living in the Vatican.

He later claimed that God told him to stand down in “a mystical event.

The former pontiff famously visited Scotland in 2010, as part of a four-day tour of the UK. He was welcomed by the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh. Later, he travelled to Glasgow where he celebrated an open-air mass in front of 70,000 people in Bellahouston Park.

He earned the nickname “God’s rottweiler” for his defence of Catholic doctrine.