Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at the age of 95
Pope Benedict XVI, who served as head of the Catholic Church from
2005 until his resignation in 2013, has died at age 95, the Vatican announced.
A statement by Vatican spokesman Matteo
Bruni said: “It is with sadness that I tell you that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed
away these days at 9:34 a.m. in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery
inside the Vatican. Similarly, the information could be provided as soon as possible
.
His death comes after Pope Francis announced in his
weekly target market on December 28 that Benedict became "very ill.
The death of Benedict XVI takes on a duration almost unheard of in
current records where the popes have co-existed,
a scenario that has sparked tensions within rival camps in the
Vatican. It paves the way for his successor, Pope Francis
to remember whether or not to watch Benedict retire sooner or later,
which is not possible while the end results could have been three popes.
Benedict, born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in Germany in 1927, became a deeply
conservative pontiff whose tenure was marred by sexual abuse
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