Watch St Peter's Square in Vatican City live as former Pope Benedict XVI dies aged 95. More here:
Former pope Benedict XVI, who became the first pontiff to resign in some 600 years, has died aged 95.at the end of his general audience on Wednesday morning."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," a spokesperson said.
Francis had gone to visit Benedict at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City after the audience. On 11 February 2013, Benedict's surprise announcement to stand aside shocked the Catholic world, and forced the church to grapple with an event it had not seen in centuries.Read more:'God's Rottweiler'
Some ultra-traditionalists even refused to acknowledge Pope Francis as a legitimate pontiff after Benedict stood down, criticising Francis for his more welcoming approach to members of the LGBTQ+ community and to Catholics who divorced and remarried outside the Church, arguing both were undermining traditional values.
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