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Former Pope Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, died on Saturday aged 95 in a secluded monastery in the Vatican where he had lived since stepping down, a spokesman for the Holy See said. The Vatican said his body would lie in state…

Pope Francis had asked the public to pray for the Pope Emeritus earlier this week

Vatican City (AFP) - Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday aged 95, was the first pope to resign since the Middle Ages after a papacy beset by Church infighting and outcry over paedophilia.

When Pope Benedict shocked the Roman Catholic Church in 2013 by announcing he would resign instead of ruling for life, he promised to stay in the Vatican "hidden from the world".

Former Pope Benedict, the first pontiff in 600 years to resign and a standard bearer for conservatives who yearned for a more traditional Church, died on Saturday, ending an extraordinary period in which two men wearing white lived in the Vatican.

Pope Benedict led the Catholic Church for less than eight years before he stood down in 2013

Vatican City (AFP) - Former pope Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in six centuries to step down as head of the Catholic Church, died Saturday at the age of 95, the Vatican announced.

VATICAN CITY - Former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday aged 95, was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in mismanagement and polarised between conservatives and progressives.

He is remembered as a staunch conservative who opposed modernizing reforms and as the first pope to step down since the 15th century.

Benedict, who died at the age of 95, in 2013 became the first pope in 600 years to step down, citing old age.

Pope Francis announced on Wednesday that his predecessor was 'very sick'