Former Pope Benedict has died aged 95, days after Pope Francis asked for prayers over his failing health.
He died on Saturday in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, a spokesman for the Holy See said.
‘With sorrow, I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible,’ the spokesman said in a written statement.
Yesterday the Vatican said that Benedict, whose health had been deteriorating, was in stable condition and was able to participate in Mass in his room.
‘Last night the Pope Emeritus was able to rest well,’ Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement on Friday.
‘He also participated in the celebration of Holy Mass in his room yesterday afternoon. At present his condition is stationary.’
On Wednesday, Pope Francis revealed that his 95-year-old predecessor was ‘very ill’ and went to see him in his home in the Vatican Gardens.
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Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign as head of the worldwide Catholic Church, has been in fragile health for many years and uses a wheelchair.
But Pope Francis sparked alarm on Wednesday by revealing to his general audience that his predecessor, whose birth name is Joseph Ratzinger, was ‘very sick’.
Francis called for people to pray for his predecessor, before going to visit Benedict at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery on the Vatican grounds where he lives.
The Vatican on Friday confirmed the ex-pope’s health had worsened ‘due to advancing age’, while a Vatican source told AFP on Wednesday that it began deteriorating ‘about three days ago’.
‘It is his vital functions that are failing, including his heart,’ the source said, adding that no hospitalisation was planned, as he has the ‘necessary medical equipment’ at home.
In response to the news, Catholic leaders from around the world said they would pray for him, from the United States to Benedict’s native Germany.
The Vatican also announced a special mass which was held on Friday at Rome’s Basilica of St John Lateran.
In 2013, Benedict cited his declining physical and mental health in his shocked decision to stand down.
His resignation created an unprecedented situation in which two ‘men in white’ – Benedict and Pope Francis – have co-existed within the walls of the tiny city-state.
Benedict was 78 when he succeeded the long-reigning and popular John Paul II in April 2005.
He had previously served as the Church’s chief doctrinal enforcer, earning the nickname ‘God’s Rottweiler’ and a reputation as a generally conservative thinker on theological issues.
But his papacy was beset by Church infighting and the outcry over clerical sex abuse of children.
He became the first pontiff to apologise for the abuse that emerged around the world, expressing ‘deep remorse’ and meeting with victims in person.
But while he took key steps to tackle the scandal, Benedict was criticised for failing to end Church cover-ups, and the issue returned to haunt him in retirement.
A damning report for the German church in January 2022 accused him of personally having failed to stop four predatory priests in the 1980s while archbishop of Munich.
Daily Mail
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