• Pope Benedict XVI has passed away at the age of 95
• He held the position of Pope for fewer than eight years before stepping down in 2013.
• He was the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415, making him the first person to do so.

Pope Benedict XVI has passed away at the age of 95, over a decade after he resigned from his post as leader of the Catholic Church due to his failing health.

He held the position of Pope for fewer than eight years before stepping down in 2013. He was the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415, making him the first person to do so.

Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery located within the walls of the Vatican, and it was there that he passed away at 8:34 in the morning on Saturday (08:34 GMT).

Pope Francis will lead the burial ceremony at 5th January.

The Vatican has announced that the body of the former Pope will be placed in St. Peter’s Basilica on January 2 so that “the faithful” can have their final farewells with him there.

As soon as the death was announced, bells rang in Munich and St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis lauded Pope Benedict as a great and compassionate man in his first public words since his death. First public comments since news surfaced.

During a New Year’s Eve ceremony at the Vatican, he praised his “beloved” predecessor’s “sacrifices for the church.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, called Pope XVI “one of the 20th century’s outstanding theologians.”

He said: “I have pleasant memories of the 2010 Papal Visit. We admired his kindness, tenderness, knowledge, and openness.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Pope Benedict “worked with spirit and insight for a more brotherly world”

Giorgia Meloni called Pope Benedict a “giant of faith and reason.”

With his spiritual, cultural, and intellectual magisterium, he spoke to men’s hearts and minds. He lived for the Church.

Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, called Pope “a formative personality of the Catholic Church, an honest person, and a qualified theologian.”

Ireland’s president, Michael D. Higgins, will remember the previous pope for “his continuous efforts to promote peace and goodwill around the world.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby called Pope  “one of the best theologians of his generation” Vladimir Putin called Pope  a “defender of Christian principles” in his January 1 speech.

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