Former pope Benedict XVI dies aged 95

Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95 the Vatican announced Saturday almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuriesWith sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away today at 934 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statementThe German pope emeritus whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his shock decision to step down in February 2013His health had been declining for a long time but the Vatican revealed on Wednesday that his situation had worsened while his successor Pope Francis called for Catholics worldwide to pray for himHis death brings to an end an unprecedented situation in which two men in white Benedict and Francis had coexisted within the walls of the tiny city stateWhile there is no rulebook for former popes Benedicts funeral is expected to be at the Vatican presided over by FrancisIn 2005 the body of John Paul II the last pope to die lay in state before a funeral mass in St Peters Square attended by one million people including heads of state Scandal and infighting Benedict had almost entirely withdrawn from public view his health reported to be shaky and the few photographs that emerged of him exposing his frailtyBack in 2013 he had cited his declining physical and mental health in his decision to become the first pope since 1415 to give up the job as head of the worldwide Catholic churchBenedict was a brilliant theologian but his papacy was beset by Vatican infighting and a scandal over clerical sexual abuse of children that rocked the Catholic Church the world over in which he was criticised for a lack of leadershipThe abuse scandal overshadowed his final months after a damning report for the German church in January 2022 accused him of personally failing to stop four predatory priests in the 1980s while archbishop of MunichHe denied wrongdoing and the Vatican strongly defended his record in being the first pope to apologise for the scandals who expressed his own deep remorse and met with victimsBorn on April 16 1927 in Marktl am Inn in Bavaria Benedict was 78 when he succeeded the longreigning and popular John Paul II in April 2005 the first German pope of the modern eraHe later said his election felt like the guillotineUnlike his successor Pope Francis a Jesuit who delights in being among his flock Benedict was a conservative intellectual dubbed Gods Rottweiler in a previous post as chief doctrinal enforcerHis papacy was dogged by controversy from comments that angered the Muslim world to a moneylaundering scandal at the Vatican bank and a personal humiliation when in 2012 his butler leaked secret papers to the mediaDespite saying he would live hidden from the world after his resignation he repeatedly intervened on key issues facing the Church through books interviews and articlesIn January 2020 he expressed his opposition to allowing priests to marry A year earlier he blamed clerical abuse scandals on the 1960s sexual revolution and a collapse in faith in the WestIn an interview in March 2021 he said there is only one pope but acknowledged fanatical supporters who refused to accept his resignationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever