Rome, Europe Brief News – Ex-Pope Benedict, the first German-born pope in 500 years, passed away at the age of 95 in the Vatican after serious health deterioration.
Previously, his successor Pope Francis warned that Benedict was “very ill.”
“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,” the Vatican announced.
The ex-Pope — whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger — stepped down from the role in 2013, citing his declining health. He was the first pope to resign since the Middle Ages.
Although the former pontiff had been ill for some time, the Holy See said there had been an aggravation in his condition because of advancing age.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed to his final audience of the year at the Vatican to “pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict”, whom he said was very ill.
Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was 78 when in 2005 he became one of the oldest popes ever elected.
For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests.
Earlier this year the former Pope acknowledged that errors had been made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982.
