The Catholic Church is today mourning the death today of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
The 95-year-old German former pope died at 9.34 am local time at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, his residence at the Vatican, after his health deteriorated sharply earlier in the week. Pope Francis used his general audience on Wednesday to reveal to the world the declining health of his predecessor and to request prayers for him, saying he was “very ill”.
Pope Benedict received the Sacrament of the Sick later that day. It later emerged that he was losing consciousness, and his decline was attributed to old age. He rallied later in the week and by Thursday had become sufficiently strong to participate in Mass from his bed.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said he was “deeply saddened” by the death of Pope Benedict. “He will be remembered as one of the great theologians of the 20th century,” the Cardinal said.
“I remember with particular affection the remarkable Papal Visit to these lands in 2010. We saw his courtesy, his gentleness, the perceptiveness of his mind and the openness of his welcome to everybody that he met.
“He was through and through a gentleman, through and through a scholar, through and through a pastor, through and through a man of God – close to the Lord and always his humble servant.”
Cardinal Nichols added: “Pope Benedict is very much in my heart and in my prayers. I give thanks to God for his ministry and leadership.”
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales will celebrate Requiem Masses for the repose of the soul of the late Pope Emeritus in their cathedrals, and prayer cards will be distributed to parishes.
Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen, the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, said the Church has lost “one of the leading Catholic figures of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of our own”.
He said: “By nature a shy and scholarly man and by profession a priest-theologian, he found himself drawn ever more into public life as Archbishop of Munich, as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome and finally as Pope – the first German since the end of the Second World War to attain world pre-eminence.
“His memorable State visit to the United Kingdom in 2010 began in Scotland. The gentle and prayerful intelligence revealed during that visit disarmed his critics. He was often misunderstood, even caricatured.
“Contrary to a widespread perception, however, he was a resolutely contemporary ‘confessor of the faith’, deeply and critically engaged with modern thought, a lucid and unacademic preacher and pastorally sensitive.
“His bold, independent spirit surprised us all with his decision to resign while in office, the first Pope to do so for centuries.
“He once wrote: ‘My basic intention has been to expose the real core of the faith underneath the encrustations, and to give this core its true power and dynamism. This has been the constant direction of my life.’ His full stature will surely emerge increasingly. May he rest in peace.”
Pope Benedict was born Joseph Ratzinger on 16 April 1927 at Marktl am Inn, in Bavaria, near the Austrian border. His mother had worked as a cook and his father was a policeman whose criticisms of the Nazis led to the family moving from one small town to another.
On 29 June 1951 he and his brother Georg were ordained to the priesthood. Joseph later taught theology at Freising and then in Bonn. From 1963 to 1966 he taught at Münster, and from 1966 to 1969 in Tübingen. In 1969 he took up a professorship at the University of Regensburg. In 1962, aged 35, he accompanied Cardinal Josef Frings of Cologne as a peritus, or theological adviser, to the Second Vatican Council, attending all four sessions.
In 1977 Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Munich and later that year he was made a cardinal. In 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the department of the curia responsible for promoting and defending the Catholic faith.
In the six years leading up to its publication in 1992, Cardinal Ratzinger headed the committee that drew up a new edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, encouraged by Pope John Paul. It aimed at being an organic synthesis of the essentials of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the light of the Second Vatican Council.
On 19 April 2005 Cardinal Ratzinger, aged 78, was elected Pope and chose the name Benedict. He was the first German pope in almost 1,000 years.
As Benedict XVI he wrote three encyclicals. Deus Caritas Est (God is Love, 2005) discussed the positive value of two Greek words for love, eros and agape, and of the word for friendship, philia.
In Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope, 2007) he explored the relationship between the virtue of hope and Christian redemption. Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth, 2009) covered aspects of social justice, global development and respect for the environment. Another encyclical, Lumen Fide (The Light of Faith) was finished by his successor, Pope Francis.
On 11 February 2013 Pope Benedict announced that he would retire. Aged 85 years he was the fourth oldest person ever to be Pope. His body will lie in state at St Peter’s Basilica from 2 January and his Requiem Mass will be celebrated there on 5 January.
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