Former Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 to become the first pope to do so in 600 years, passed away on Saturday at the age of 95 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican.
His body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica beginning on Monday, informed Vatican. The Vatican has extremely complex traditions for what occurs when the pope in charge passes away, but none are known to the general public for a past pope.
In his weekly general audience earlier this week, Pope Francis revealed that his predecessor was ‘extremely unwell’ and requested prayers.
Benedict served as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the influential head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, formerly known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for nearly 25 years (CDF).
On April 19, 2005, he was elected pope to succeed the 27-year-reigning, wildly popular Pope John Paul II. He was chosen by Cardinals because they wanted continuity and what one person described as ‘a safe set of hands’
Benedict, the first German pontiff in a thousand years, admitted that he was a poor administrator, adding that throughout his eight-year pontificate, which was plagued by errors and a leaks scandal, he had a ‘lack of commitment in governing and decision taking.’
The majority of his pontificate was marred by child abuse scandals, but he is credited with kicking off the process to punish or defrock predator priests following a more permissive approach under his predecessor.
Following his departure, the Church’s conservatives looked to him as their leader, and some extreme traditionalists even refused to recognise Francis as the true pope.
They have criticised Francis for his openness toward the LGBTQ+ community and Catholics who have divorced and remarried outside the Church, claiming that both of these actions undermine traditional norms.
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