Former Pope Benedict XVI or also popularly known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger passed away at the age of 95, Saturday (12/31/2022). In late December, Pope Francis said Benedict XVI was seriously ill and asked pilgrims at the Vatican to pray for him.
Benedict XVI died nearly a decade after he resigned as Pope due to deteriorating health conditions.
He led the Catholic Church for less than eight years until 2013 – the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
In its statement, the Vatican announced: "It is with deep sorrow that I inform you that Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 a.m. at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican.
"Further information will be provided as soon as possible."
According to the Vatican, Pope Emeritus' remains will be interred in St. Peter's Basilica from January 2, 2023.
At the end of this year's audience, Pope Francis asked people to "perform a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict".
The Vatican said the former Pope's health began to deteriorate on December 29, 2022.
"His speech has been soft, but he's listening to your conversation," Pope Francis told Spanish newspaper ABC.
Back in August 2022, when Pope Francis brought in new cardinals to meet Benedict at the Vatican's Mater Ecclesiae monastery, Benedict looked weak, but he shook the hands of all of them and interacted with them.
Long before that, around 2020, Benedict began to have difficulty making speeches. In the presence of the cardinals, Benedict said, "God has taken away my oratorical ability so that I appreciate silence".
For Pope Francis, his predecessor was not only a "saint" who had a high spiritual life, but also a clear-headed person and had a great sense of humor.
Final apology
In early 2022, in February to be precise, former Pope Benedict XVI admitted that there was a mistake in the handling of sexual abuse cases when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany, from 1977 to 1982.
In a letter released by the Vatican, the former Pope apologized for a "grievous mistake", but he denied making any personal wrongdoing.
A report to the Catholic Church alleges he failed to follow through on four cases of child sexual abuse.
A report by a German law firm stated the abuse continued under his tenure, and pastors accused of the abuse remained active in the church.
In his first personal response to the report, Benedict wrote, "I have a great responsibility in the Catholic Church. What's bigger is my pain over the offenses and mistakes that occurred in different places during my time running the mandate."
He described the actions against victims of sexual abuse as "the saddest mistake".
"As in those meetings, once again I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my deep shame, my deep sadness and my sincere request for forgiveness.
"In a moment, I will meet with the last judge of my life", he added.
Before the report was released in January, Pope Benedict denied ever attending a 1980 meeting on sexual abuse cases, when he was archbishop of Munich.
But after the report was released, Pope Benedict said he did attend the meeting. His personal secretary at the time, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, said the previous absentee statement was an oversight in the editing of the statement released at the time and there was no ill will.
Pope Benedict referred to this in his letter, stating that he felt deeply hurt that the fallacy was used "to doubt his honesty and even label him a liar".