Pope Benedict XVI had been living a life of retirement in the Vatican grounds since he resigned from the papacy on February 28, 2013. His reign as pope was just under 8 years.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has died aged 95.
The Holy See Press Office announced the news this morning, with director Matteo Bruni writing: “With sorrow, I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican.” Bruni added that “[f]urther information will be provided as soon as possible.”
The late Pontiff’s remains will rest at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery until January 2, at which point Benedict’s body will be on display in St. Peter’s Basilica during the days of Monday through Wednesday. Pope Francis will celebrate the funeral at 9:30 am, January 5, in the basilica.
Pope Benedict had been living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican gardens since he resigned on February 28, 2013.
He was the last of his parents’ three children still alive, with his brother and sister Georg and Maria having died in 2020 and 1991 respectively.
Ratzinger’s ecclesial career was long and noteworthy, even from his early days as a priest. Following his ordination in 1951, Ratzinger served as advisor to Cardinal Joseph Frings during Vatican II, acting as a member of the influential and highly organized liberal lobby seeking widespread change.
He then spent five years as Archbishop of Munich and Friesing from 1977–1982, before being moved by John Paul II to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1982. Made cardinal in 1978, Ratzinger served as Vice-Dean and later Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1998.
He was elected Pope on April 19, 2005, taking the name Benedict XVI. He is arguably more famous for making history 8 years later by being the first Pope to resign in nearly 600 years.
One of his now more famous actions was the 2007 promulgation of his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, outlining broad permission for priests to celebrate the ancient form of the Roman liturgy. That document has since become the target of Pope Francis’ moves against the traditional Mass, with Francis abrogating it in 2021.
Pope Benedict XVI
Following the death of John Paul II on April 2, 2005, Ratzinger offered the funeral Mass for the late pontiff in his capacity as Dean of the College of Cardinals.
The late Pontiff’s remains will rest at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery until January 2, at which point Benedict’s body will be on display in St. Peter’s Basilica during the days of Monday through Wednesday. Pope Francis will celebrate the funeral at 9:30 am, January 5, in the basilica.
Pope Benedict had been living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican gardens since he resigned on February 28, 2013.
He was the last of his parents’ three children still alive, with his brother and sister Georg and Maria having died in 2020 and 1991 respectively.
Ratzinger’s ecclesial career was long and noteworthy, even from his early days as a priest. Following his ordination in 1951, Ratzinger served as advisor to Cardinal Joseph Frings during Vatican II, acting as a member of the influential and highly organized liberal lobby seeking widespread change.
He then spent five years as Archbishop of Munich and Friesing from 1977–1982, before being moved by John Paul II to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1982. Made cardinal in 1978, Ratzinger served as Vice-Dean and later Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1998.
He was elected Pope on April 19, 2005, taking the name Benedict XVI. He is arguably more famous for making history 8 years later by being the first Pope to resign in nearly 600 years.
One of his now more famous actions was the 2007 promulgation of his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, outlining broad permission for priests to celebrate the ancient form of the Roman liturgy. That document has since become the target of Pope Francis’ moves against the traditional Mass, with Francis abrogating it in 2021.
Pope Benedict XVI
Following the death of John Paul II on April 2, 2005, Ratzinger offered the funeral Mass for the late pontiff in his capacity as Dean of the College of Cardinals.
He was soon elected as Pope on just the second day of the conclave, on April 19, 2005, aged 78, and took the name, Benedict XVI. In his first Mass as Pope, he said during his homily “pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.”
Less than one month later, on May 13, 2005, he waived the customary five-year waiting period outlined in Canon Law and announced the beginning of the beatification process for his predecessor John Paul II. He canonized over 40 saints during his pontificate.
During his near 8 years as Pope, he wrote three encyclicals – Deus Caritas Est, Spe Salvi, and Caritas in Veritate – 13 motu proprios, 68 Apostolic Letters, and 4 apostolic exhortations. He created 90 cardinals in five consistories and made 25 official trips outside of Italy.
In two documents released in 2007 and in 2013, he modified the rules governing the papal conclave – which had been somewhat eased by his predecessor – restoring the necessary majority of two-thirds of the papal electors and declaring excommunication the automatic punishment for breaking the oath of secrecy surrounding a conclave.
Pro-life stance
Throughout his pontificate, Benedict made a number of statements opposing abortion, which built upon his legacy as Prefect of the CDF to prevent pro-abortion politicians from receiving Holy Communion.
READ: Will Pope Francis fulfill Benedict’s legacy on abortion and Communion?
At the very outset of his pontificate, Benedict stated, in reference to abortion, that a Pope cannot “proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.” This adherence to Divine Law was shown by John Paul II, said Benedict, in his own defense of the unborn.
In his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Benedict wrote: “If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology.”
Condemning the “anti-birth mentality” he wrote that “Openness to life is at the centre of true development.”
Prior to ascending the papal throne, in 2004 Ratzinger intervened into a debate among the U.S. bishops on the issue of Communion for pro-abortion Catholic politicians. He said in his letter titled “Worthiness to receive Holy Communion,” that a Catholic politician who would vote for “permissive abortion and euthanasia laws” after being duly instructed and warned, “must” be denied Communion.
However, Cardinals Burke and Brandmuller, along with Benedict’s secretary Archbishop Gänswein – publicly at least – downplayed suggestions that Benedict somehow remained as Pope. Burke, the former Prefect of the Holy See’s Apostolic Signatura, stated that “I believe it would be difficult to say it’s not valid.”
READ: Did Benedict really resign? Gänswein, Burke and Brandmüller weigh in
Following his announcement, Benedict resigned on February 28, staying briefly at Castel Gandolfo, before moving to his more permanent home of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens on May, 2 2013.
He made limited public appearances after that, but Pope Francis notably brought the new cardinals to meet Benedict at every consistory, where the new cardinals would receive a blessing from Benedict. He also joined Pope Francis in the March 25, 2022 consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Following the rollout of the abortion-tainted COVID injections, Pope Benedict joined Pope Francis in taking Pfizer’s COVID jab in January 2021, at the start of the Vatican’s vaccine campaign. Gänswein later revealed in December 2021 that Benedict had taken three injections at that point.
In recent years, pictures of the emeritus pope have occasionally emerged, showing a steady decline in his health as he appeared increasingly frail.
Stance on homosexuality
While he was prefect, the CDF issued its letter “On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” noting that a homosexual “inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”
“Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option,” added Ratzinger. “It is not.”
This position he echoed in later documents, and more notably during his 2012 Christmas address to the Roman Curia, when he appeared to denounce same-sex ‘marriage’ and criticized those who “dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being.”
After his resignation, he issued an essay in which he explicitly spoke against “homosexual cliques” in seminaries, “which acted more or less openly and significantly changed the climate in the seminaries.”
READ: Benedict said what Vatican abuse summit dared not: ‘Homosexual cliques’ ruined seminaries
Two years later, he again attacked the rise of same-sex ‘marriage’ saying that “the legalization in 16 European states of ‘homosexual marriage’” has led to a “deformation of conscience” that extends beyond the secular realm, having “penetrated deeply into the world of marriage in sectors of the Catholic people.”
Resignation
On February 11, 2013, Benedict shocked the world when he announced his resignation from the “Petrine office.” In a short speech delivered in Latin to the assembled cardinals, Benedict cited declining health and advancing old age as the reason for his resignation.
READ: Benedict’s renunciation and the wolves within the church
The announcement took the Church and the world by storm, with many expressing doubts as to the publicized reasons for his resignation. The text of his resignation address prompted debate as to its legitimacy which continued in many corners of the Church until his death – debate fuelled by his continued use of the white cassock, and title Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
However, Cardinals Burke and Brandmuller, along with Benedict’s secretary Archbishop Gänswein – publicly at least – downplayed suggestions that Benedict somehow remained as Pope. Burke, the former Prefect of the Holy See’s Apostolic Signatura, stated that “I believe it would be difficult to say it’s not valid.”
READ: Did Benedict really resign? Gänswein, Burke and Brandmüller weigh in
Following his announcement, Benedict resigned on February 28, staying briefly at Castel Gandolfo, before moving to his more permanent home of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens on May, 2 2013.
He made limited public appearances after that, but Pope Francis notably brought the new cardinals to meet Benedict at every consistory, where the new cardinals would receive a blessing from Benedict. He also joined Pope Francis in the March 25, 2022 consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Following the rollout of the abortion-tainted COVID injections, Pope Benedict joined Pope Francis in taking Pfizer’s COVID jab in January 2021, at the start of the Vatican’s vaccine campaign. Gänswein later revealed in December 2021 that Benedict had taken three injections at that point.
In recent years, pictures of the emeritus pope have occasionally emerged, showing a steady decline in his health as he appeared increasingly frail.
However, footage from even as recently as early September, showed the late Pope being taken around the Vatican gardens in a wheelchair with Gänswein and a number of others in attendance.
Regensburg address
Early in his pontificate, the new Pope made international headlines for his September 12, 2006 address at the University of Regensburg – an address which enraged Muslims and prompted death threats against the Pope.
He quoted from a Byzantine emperor who had negatively described Muhammed, saying “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Following widespread media controversy and particular outrage from Muslims, Benedict said a few days later that the words quoted “do not in any way express my personal thought.”
Summorum Pontificum
On July 7, 2007 he issued his motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, outlining and re-establishing the legal right of the traditional Latin Mass, writing that the traditional Mass “was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted.” He described the Novus Ordo Mass as the “normal” or ordinary form of the Roman Rite, and the Latin Mass the “extraordinary form,” saying that they can be “mutually enriching.”
His accompanying letter to the motu proprio contained the line which has since been made famous by devotees of the traditional Mass: “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.” The document was warmly received by newly emboldened devotees of the traditional Mass, and led to a large increase in Latin Masses being offered around the world.
READ: Pope restricts ‘divisive’ Traditional Latin Mass, says 52-yr-old Novus Ordo is ‘unique expression’ of Church’s liturgy
However, the motu proprio became the target of Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio “Traditionis Custodes,” which both contradicted and abrogated Summorum Pontificum.
Relations with SSPX and Anglican Ordinariate
Two years later in 2009, Benedict XVI announced the revoking of the excommunications on the bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in 1988 – excommunications which were always hotly contested by the bishops. The groundbreaking move, altering decades-long relations between the SSPX and the Vatican, was welcomed by SSPX superiors who then highlighted the need for “talks” to address the “doctrinal issues” between Rome and the Society.
Later that same year, Benedict then issued his apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus which allowed for personal ordinariates for Anglicans to enter into the Catholic Church. The document established norms for members of both the Anglican laity and clergy to convert and then live as Catholics. It resulted in an influx of converts to the Catholic Church, with personal ordinariates being established in England, the U.S., Australia.
By 2019, members of the three ordinariates numbered in excess of 9,000, with nearly 200 priests and 94 parishes.
