Pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95.
The Vatican announced today (December 31) that the former pontiff had died after a battle with illness. 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.”
Pope Francis announced on Wednesday his predecessor was "very sick" and urged people to pray for him. Francis succeeded Benedict in 2013 after he became the first pope to quit in 600 years saying his old age had limited his abilities to carry out his duties.
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Benedict had lived since his resignation in a monastery on the grounds of the Vatican. 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", reports the Mirror.
Pope Benedict XVI, originally called Joseph Alois Ratzinger, was born in Germany in April 1927 to a policeman father and a hotel cook mother. As a teenager he was drafted into the German 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. He was head of the Catholic Church until February 2013.
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