Pope Benedict XVI — The First Pope To Resign In 600 Years — Dies At Age 95

Topline

Former Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI—the first pope to resign from the role since the 1400s—died Saturday at age 95, according to the Vatican.

Key Facts

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Benedict’s body would lie in state Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica, with a funeral to be held on January 5, 2023.

Pope Francis—who became head of the Catholic church in 2013 following Benedict’s resignation—tweeted earlier this week asking for prayers for Benedict, adding the former pope was “very sick.”

The Vatican reported Thursday that Benedict rested well over the night and was “absolutely lucid and alert today, although his condition remains serious.”

Bruni said additional information about Benedict’s death would be released later, though he previously said Benedict’s declining health was affected by an “aggravation” due to his “advancing age.”

Crucial Quote

“From his time as an expert adviser at the Second Vatican Council onward, there was no question that [Benedict] was a major figure within the Church around the world,” Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said, adding Benedict’s papacy will be “remembered as one of rich teaching” in addition to his “reforms in areas like liturgy and in the handling of child sexual abuse.”

Surprising Fact

Prior to Benedict’s resignation, the last pope to resign from the position was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 after serving for nearly nine years.

Key Background

Born in 1927 as Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict served as head of the church from 2005 to 2013 and cited declining health and his “advanced age” as his reasons to resign at age 85. “Having before God examined my conscience over and over, I have come to the certain knowledge that my strength, due to the burdens of age, is no longer suitable for properly administering the Petrine office,” he added in a speech following the announcement. At the time of his election in 2005, Benedict, 78, was the oldest man to become pope since 1730, as he entered the role during the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal—complemented by a 2004 church-commissioned report that found more than 4,000 priests faced sexual abuse allegations over the previous 50 years. Though he compared his becoming pope to a guillotine coming down on him, according to the New York Times, Benedict said he would assume the role to rekindle Christian faith.

Further Reading

Here’s What We Know About Ex-Pope Benedict’s Health (Forbes)