WFLA

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at 95 after days of worsening health

Nathaniel Rodriguez

FILE - Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, center, is assisted by his former personal aide Rev. Georg Gaenswein, right, as he arrives in St. Peter's Square to attend a canonization Mass for two pontiffs, John XXIII and John Paul II, led by Pope Francis, at the Vatican on April 27, 2014. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

VATICAN CITY (WFLA) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died Saturday after days of health issues, according to the Vatican.

The Holy See Press Office said the former “Vicar of Christ” died at 9:34 a.m. at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, where he had lived after giving up his position in 2013.

Vatican officials said Benedict XVI, originally born Joseph Ratzinger, had been suffering from health problems for days due to his old age.

The pope emeritus’ successor, Pope Francis, asked the people to pray for the former pontiff before his death in light of his predecessor’s declining health.

“Let us ask the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end,” Pope Francis said.

Born in 1927 at Marktl am Inn, Germany, Benedict XVI grew up in the turmoil of Nazi violence that culminated in World War II.

According to the Vatican, the young Joseph Ratzinger witnessed Nazis beat a priest before Mass as the party took a hostile approach to the Catholic Church. He was also enrolled in an auxiliary anti-aircraft corps until September 1944, when he was 17 years old.

After World War II, the pope-to-be studied philosophy and theology before being ordained as a priest in 1951.

Known for his academic approach to theology, Benedict XVI climbed the ranks of the priesthood before being granted the rank of cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977.

Nearly 30 years later, Joseph Ratzinger would be elected as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II, a now-canonized saint who held the papacy for 27 years.

In addition to inheriting the papacy, Benedict XVI also inherited the scandal of the clerical sex abuse scandal that plagued the Catholic Church for decades.

At the time of his election, the 78-year-old Benedict XVI was the oldest man to be elected Pope since 1730, and eight years later, he announced his resignation.

His papacy ended on Feb. 28, 2013. The following month, the 2013 papal conclave named Benedict XVI’s successor: the Argentinian bishop Jorge Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis.

The Vatican said the former pope’s body will be taken to St. Peter’s Basilica Monday. His funeral will be Thursday in St. Peter’s Square.