Former Pope, Benedict XVI Dies aged 95

Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI has died aged 95 years today at the holly walls of the Vatican Catholic Church. the Vatican has announced.

According to Vatican, The 95 year old breathed his last on Saturday 30th December 2022 at 9:34 AM in his residence at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery. A residennce He chose after resigning from the Petrine ministry in 2013.

“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 AM in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible. As of Monday morning, 2 January 2023.”The Vatican announced.

For several days, His health had worsened due to advancing age, as the Vatican had reported in early December with updates on his evolving situation routinely.

The leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, had publicly shared the news about his predecessor’s worsening health on 28 December.

The Pope had invited people to pray for the Pope Emeritus, who was very ill. “Let us Pray Together for Pope Emeritus Benedict who is supporting the Church in silence. Let us ask the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end.”

During a briefing at the Holy See Press office on Saturday at midday, the director, Matteo Bruni, told journalists that Pope Francis will preside over the funeral of the Pope Emeritus on 5 January at 9.30 CET in St. Peter’s Square.

Adding that; ” As from Monday 2 January2023, the body of Benedict XVI will be lying in state at the Basilica so that the faithful who wish to do so may pay their last respects with prayers and a final farewell.”

Buni further revealed how Benedict specifically asked that everything, including his funeral – be marked by simplicity, just as he lived his life.

Born in 1927, Pope Benedict XVI was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013.

He was ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, a state in Germany. He embarked on an academic career establishing himself as a highly regarded theologian by the late 1950s.

He was appointed a full professor in 1958 at the age of 31. After a long career as a professor of theology at several German universities, he was conferred Archbishop of Munich and instantly made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977, an unusual promotion for someone with little pastoral experience.

In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

From 2002 until his election as pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals. Prior to becoming pope, he was a major figure on the Vatican stage for a quarter of a century, he had an influence second to none when it came to setting church priorities and directions as one of John Paul II’s closest confidants.

Benedict’s election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II

He became the first oldest pope to be elected at 78 years in 2005, he was at the helm of the catholic church for just 8 years.

On 11th February 2013, Benedict unexpectedly tendered in his resignation in a speech in Latin before the cardinals, citing a lack of strength of mind and body due to his advanced age. Benedict chose to be known by the title ‘pope emeritus’ upon his resignation.

His resignation took effect on 28th February 2013. He was the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so under no duress since Celestine V in 1294.

As pope emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness and dressed in the papal colour of white.

He was officially succeeded by Francis on 13th March 2013, and he moved into the then newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City for his retirement on 2nd May 2013.

The retired Benedict XVI later made occasional public appearances alongside Francis.

In addition to his native German language, Benedict had some level of proficiency in French, Italian, English, and Spanish. He also knew Portuguese, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Greek.

He was a member of several social-science academies, such as the French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. Pope Emeritus played the piano and had a preference for Mozart and Bach.

Benedict XVI was also the only pope to become a member of the Hitler Youth during his lifetime. He lived in Rome from 1981 until his death in 2022.