The former Pope Benedict XVI has died.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95 years old.
A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: "With pain I inform that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesia Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be released as soon as possible."
His cause of death was a worsening of his health conditions as a result of his old age.
Last night, Bruni said the former Pontiff was well enough to take mass in his room, just hours before he passed away.
He was said to have been in a stable condition.
"Last night the Pope Emeritus was able to rest well," Bruni said in a statement. "He also participated in the celebration of Holy Mass in his room yesterday afternoon. At present his condition is stationary."
Benedict stunned the world on February 11 2013 when he announced that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church that he had steered for eight years through scandal and indifference.
His dramatic decision paved the way for the conclave that elected Pope Francis as his successor.
The two popes then lived side-by-side in the Vatican gardens, an unprecedented arrangement that set the stage for future "popes emeritus" to do the same.
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had never wanted to be pope, planning at age 78 to spend his final years writing in the "peace and quiet" of his native Bavaria.
Instead, he was forced to follow the footsteps of the beloved St John Paul II and run the church through the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal and then a second scandal that erupted when his own butler stole his personal papers and gave them to a journalist.
Being elected pope, he once said, felt like a "guillotine" had come down on him.
Nevertheless, he set about the job with a single-minded vision to rekindle the faith in a world that, he frequently lamented, seemed to think it could do without God.
"In vast areas of the world today, there is a strange forgetfulness of God," he told one million young people gathered on a vast field for his first foreign trip as pope, to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in 2005.
"It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him."
It came after his successor Pope Francis announced that Benedict was "very sick", calling on his audience to pray for him on Wednesday.
Pope Francis surprised followers with the appeal as he finished his general audience at the Vatican, providing no further details.
A couple of days earlier, on December 28, Pope Francis tweeted a similar request.
He wrote: "Let us #PrayTogether 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."
The Vatican has also confirmed in a statement that the health of Pope Benedict has suddenly worsened.
After Pope Francis spoke about Benedict becoming ‘very sick’, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said: “Regarding the health conditions of the emeritus pope, for whom Pope Francis asked for prayers at the end of his general audience this morning, I can confirm that in the last hours, a worsening due to advanced age has happened.
“The situation at the moment remains under control, constantly monitored by doctors.”
The invitation was met with prayer initiatives ppringing up across the world's continents, along with an outpouring of messages of sympathy from world leaders, the Vatican News outlet reported.
The Catholic Archbishop of Westminster said it was a "measure of self-understanding" when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI resigned from his post back in 2013.
However, the Archbishop said the Pope's historic decision to resign due to his advancing age would remain “an exception”.
On the former pope Benedict resigning his post, he said: “This is the first time in 600 years, so who knows what might develop. I think it will remain an exception myself.
“I think there was a great affinity between Pope Benedict and her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” he added.
Speaking on Times Radio, Cardinal Vincent Nichols also described the “great affinity” between the former pope and the late Queen, and his admiration for her continuing royal duties until the end.
“When Benedict decided to come to this country, he decided that the first thing he had to do was visit the Queen.
"And she was 95, she held her office to the end and I think he admired that very much.
“It was a measure of his self-understanding and the difficulties he was getting into physically as well that he said no, it needs somebody else to do this.”
Pope Benedict XVI, originally called Joseph Alois Ratzinger, was born in Germany to a policeman father and a hotel cook mother.
As a teenager he was drafted into the army, although he has claimed that he never took part in combat or fired a shot.
After the war he continued his education in a seminary, having had a desire to enter the priesthood at an early age.
In June 1951 he was ordained as a priest and began a career in academia, teaching theology at universities in Germany.
He was elected on April 19, 2005 at the age of 78 - the oldest to have done so since Pope Clement XII 1730.
Pope Benedict XVI, who was 95 at the time of his death, was the head of the Catholic Church between April 2005 and February 2013.
The former pontiff had suffered bad health in the years leading up to his death - in 2020 there were reports of the pope having become seriously ill with shingles with reports he could "barely speak".
Benedict, 93, fell ill after returning to the Vatican from Germany where he visited his sick brother, Passauer Neue Presse reported in August of that year.
Benedict went to his native Bavaria in June to pay his brother Georg Ratzinger a final visit.
Ratzinger, aged 96, died shortly afterwards.
It was Benedict's first trip outside Italy since 2013, the year he resigned the papacy.
Key dates in the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI...
April 16, 1927: Born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn, Germany, youngest of three children to Joseph and Maria Ratzinger.
1943-1945: Assistant in Germany's anti-aircraft defence and infantry soldier; imprisoned in 1945 in American POW camp in Neu-Ulm.
June 29, 1951: Ordained along with brother Georg Ratzinger in Freising.
1969-1977: Professor at University of Regensburg.
March 25, 1977: Named archbishop of Munich and Freising.
June 27, 1977: Made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.
November 25, 1981: Named prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II; takes up post in March 1982.
April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies.
April 8, 2005: As dean of the College of Cardinals, Ratzinger presides over John Paul's funeral.
April 19, 2005: Elected 265th pope in one of the fastest conclaves in history. Choosing name Benedict XVI, he says he is merely a "simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord".
April 24, 2005: Installed as pope with Mass.
August 18-21, 2005: First foreign trip, to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
September 24, 2005: Meets with dissident theologian Hans Kung at papal summer residence.
December 25, 2005: First encyclical "God is Love" signed. Released January 25, 2006.
May 28, 2006: During trip to Poland, visits Auschwitz concentration camp.
September 12, 2006: During visit to Germany, delivers speech at University of Regensburg that enrages Muslims; quoting a Byzantine emperor who characterised some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman", particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith".
April 16, 2007: First volume of "Jesus of Nazareth" completed on his 80th birthday. Released April 13.
May 27, 2007: Signs letter to China's Catholics, urging them to unite under his authority. Published June 30.
July 7, 2007: Removes restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass in major gesture to traditional Catholics.
April 20, 2008: During visit to United States, prays for victims of September 11, 2001 attacks at ground zero.
July 19, 2008: During visit to Australia for World Youth Day, meets with victims of priestly sex abuse and during a Mass apologises for their suffering.
January 21, 2009: Lifts excommunication of Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson and three other ultra-traditionalist bishops of Society of St Pius X, igniting outrage. Decree released January 24.
March 10, 2009: Acknowledges Vatican mistakes in Williamson affair, says Vatican must make better use of internet to prevent future controversies. Letter released March 12.
March 17, 2009: En route to Cameroon, tells reporters aboard papal plane that condoms are not the solution to Aids and can make problem worse, prompting widespread criticism.
May 11, 2009: During visit to the Holy Land, lays wreath at Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, says Holocaust victims "lost their lives but they will never lose their names".
June 29, 2009: Third encyclical "Charity in Truth" signed. Released July 7, 2009.
July 17, 2009: Breaks right wrist in late-night fall at summer vacation home.
October 20, 2009: Vatican announces pope is making it easier for Anglicans to convert en masse to Catholicism.
March 19, 2010: Rebukes Irish bishops for "grave errors of judgment" in handling clerical sex abuse but makes no mention of Vatican responsibility in letter to Irish faithful. Released March 20.
May 1, 2010: Orders major overhaul of Legion of Christ after Vatican investigation determines founder was a fraud.
September 16-19, 2010: During first state visit by a pope to Britain, meets with Queen Elizabeth II, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and beatifies Anglican convert John Henry Newman.
November 20, 2010: Revises controversial condom-Aids comments in book and says male prostitutes who use condoms may be taking a first step towards a more responsible sexuality.
March 2, 2011: Issues sweeping exoneration of Jews for the death of Christ in "Jesus of Nazareth-Part II". Book released March 10.
May 1, 2011: Beatifies John Paul II before 1.5 million people.
June 28, 2011: Tweets for the first time, announcing launch of Vatican news information portal.
October 6, 2012: Pope's former butler is convicted on charges he stole the pontiff's private letters and leaked them to a journalist.
February 11, 2013: Reveals in Latin that he is stepping down on February 28 during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, surprising even his closest collaborators.
February 28, 2013: Departs Vatican City in a helicopter bound for Castel Gandolfo, where he begins his final journey as a "simple pilgrim".
March 23, 2013: Receives Pope Francis for lunch at Castel Gandolfo; the two men pray side-by-side and Francis insists "We are brothers".
April 28, 2014: Joins Francis on altar to canonise St John Paul II and St. John XXIII, the first time a reigning and retired pope celebrate Mass together.
April 11, 2019: In an essay, blames the clergy sex abuse scandal on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and an absence of God.
January, 2020: Contributes to a book reaffirming celibacy for priests at a time when Francis was considering an exception, sparking calls for rules governing future "popes emeritus".
June 18, 2020: Travels to Germany to visit his ailing brother, the Rev Georg Ratzinger, who dies two weeks later, on July 1.
July 16, 2021: Has his signature relaxation of restrictions on celebration of old Latin Mass reversed by Pope Francis.
January 21, 2022: Is faulted for his handling of four sex abuse cases while bishop of Munich in the 1970s and 1980s by independent report commissioned by German church.
February 8, 2022: Asks forgiveness for any "grievous faults" in handling of Munich priests, but denies personal or specific wrongdoing.
December 28, 2022: Pope Francis announces Benedict is "very ill", asks for special prayers and visits him at his home.
December 31, 2022: Benedict dies at 9.34am at his home in the Vatican Gardens at age 95.
