Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95
Pope Benedict XVI (German-born Theologian) died Saturday at the age of 95. He was the shock of the Roman Catholic Church when he resigned in 2013 after eight years as its leader.
His dramatic decision paved the way for the elevation of the Argentine-born Pope Francis, who is due to preside over Benedict’s funeral mass on Thursday.
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was an intellectual leader of the conservative wing of Catholicism, a defender of traditional orthodoxy on issues like the church’s opposition to contraception, homosexuality and married priests.
But his papacy, which followed the 27-year run of the popular John Paul II, was marked by scandal — including fallout from revelations of sex abuse by priests worldwide and then after his own butler’s leaking of personal papers to a journalist that revealed dissension within the ranks of the church hierarchy.
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2013 saw the departure of Benedict, a soft-spoken pope who was able to speak freely and became the first pope to resign in almost 600 years. However, he broke with tradition and chose to live within Vatican City while still wearing white robes that were associated with the papal papacy.
Conservative Catholics adored Benedict, who was seen as a fortress against modernism. But his professorial tendencies never created the same personal attachment as his predecessors.
His conservative views got an airing in the Oscar-nominated 2019 film “The Two Popes,” which imagined a pre-resignation meeting between Francis (played by Jonathan Pryce) and Benedict (played by Anthony Hopkins). Anthony McCarten, the screenwriter, received Oscar nominations for both actors.