His renunciation in 2013 took the whole world by surprise.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Saturday, December 31, at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, in the heart of the Vatican gardens, where he had lived since his renunciation.
"I have the pain to announce to you that the pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, died today at 9:34 a.m. Other information will be communicated to you as soon as possible", announced in a press release the director of the press service. of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni.
🗝️ Official l Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at the age of 95 in the Vatican.
The Universal Church prays for the eternal rest of Joseph Ratzinger, Sovereign Pontiff from 2005 to 2013.
Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace.
— Vatican News (@vaticannews_fr) December 31, 2022
95-year-old Benedict XVI, whose real name is Joseph Ratzinger, had appeared increasingly fragile in recent months, moving around in a wheelchair, but continuing to receive visitors.
Photos from his last visit received on December 1 showed a frail and visibly weakened man.
In recent days, his health had deteriorated further.
Pope Francis announced on Wednesday December 28 that his predecessor was "seriously ill" and that he was praying for him.
A mass for him was then celebrated on Friday at the end of the afternoon at the Basilica of Saint John in Lateran, in Rome.
The pope who resigned
Joseph Ratzinger succeeded the charismatic John Paul II on April 19, 2005, at the age of 78.
During the eight years of his pontificate, the German pope must manage one of the most acute crises of the contemporary Church, provoked by the avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse committed on children by priests and often covered up by their hierarchy.
A drama that still catches up with him at the end of his life.
In February 2022, questioned by a report published in Germany accusing him of inaction in the face of violence against minors when he was archbishop of Munich, he officially asked for "pardon" but assured that he had never covered up a paedocriminal.
Benedict XVI will be remembered as the first pope in six centuries to have renounced his holy office, challenging a taboo of the Catholic Church: the election of a pope for life.
On February 28, 2013, in a historic gesture and qualified by the Vaticanists as "very modern", he thus chose to leave his functions, explaining to the world that his forces were "no longer able to adequately exercise the ministry" of Pope.
Since then, he had only appeared in public on rare occasions, for celebrations, at the invitation of Pope Francis in particular, such as during the canonization mass of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII, in 2014. Withdrawn of the world, he had returned to his favorite domain, books, dividing his time between reading, prayer, the piano and a few visits, according to Georg Gänswein, his secretary for a quarter of a century.
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Born April 16, 1927 in Bavaria, Joseph Ratzinger grew up in a family of devout Catholics.
His father was fiercely opposed to Nazism, but that did not prevent the young Joseph from being forcibly enrolled in the Hitler Youth at the age of 14.
After briefly serving in the air defense services and being taken prisoner, he was released in 1945 and began his training as a priest by studying philosophy and theology.
He was ordained on June 29, 1951, along with his older brother, Georg.
In 1958 he was appointed professor of theology at the college of Freising and was then one of the youngest theologians in Germany.
He also teaches at the University of Bonn and then at that of Münster.
He participated in the Second Vatican Council – which took place in four sessions between 1962 and 1965 – as theological consultant to the Cardinal of Cologne.
Surprisingly enough, Joseph Ratzinger, associated with the image of the austere and conservative theologian, was then considered a reformer.
A few years later, in 1977, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Munich and Freising, then Cardinal.
In 1981, John Paul II placed him at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the main posts in the Vatican.
The role of the congregation is to promote, and protect, doctrine and morals consistent with the faith throughout the Catholic world.
Benedict XVI carried out this task for 23 years – a period during which he worked closely with John Paul II.
A pontificate marked by scandals
Elected as head of the Catholic Church on April 19, 2005, he inherited the heavy task of succeeding John Paul II, the oh so popular pope.
However, he does not enjoy the same ease in public and suffers on several occasions from communication difficulties.
From his first public audience, on April 27, 2005, Benedict XVI attracted the wrath of the media.
He says he regrets that the draft European Constitution does not explicitly mention Europe's Christian roots.
A position softened two years later when he finally came out in favor of Turkey's accession to the European Union.
On September 12, 2006, his speech in Regensburg provoked the ire of the Muslim world.
To condemn the violence committed in the name of religion, he quotes the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus (1350-1425), denouncing "Mohammed's mandate to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
A quote that shocks the Muslim faithful.
A few months later, he tries to correct the situation, declaring "regret" that his speech in Regensburg was at the origin of a misunderstanding.
Finally, three years later, the sovereign pontiff went to Jordan for his first trip to the land of Islam.
He prays at the Al-Hussein mosque, the largest in the country, and thus becomes the second pope, after John Paul II, to enter a mosque.
Another declaration marks its detractors, that on the condom which, according to Benedict XVI, "would aggravate the problem of AIDS".
This sentence, pronounced in March 2009 on the plane which took him to Cameroon for his first trip to Africa, spread like wildfire in the media all over the world.
However, in his work "Light of the World" published in 2010, Benedict XVI finally becomes the first sovereign pontiff to admit that the use of condoms, in very limited cases to contain the spread of AIDS, can be a first step towards a "more human sexuality".
In the turmoil of child crime scandals
But these controversies are nothing compared to the scandals of pedocrime in the Church which burst during the pontificate of the German pope.
When he took over as head of the Holy See in 2005, revelations of sexual abuse by churchmen had already gained momentum in the United States.
In 2008, he was the first pope to express his "shame" and to meet victims.
But a new wave of revelations occurred at the end of 2009 in Ireland, then extended to Europe, North America and Latin America.
The Church is further accused of having covered up cases of sexual abuse of minors between 1975 and 2004. To defuse the crisis, Benedict XVI addresses Catholics in Ireland, expressing the Church's regrets.
But soon, he himself is accused of having covered up a pedophile priest when he was still a cardinal.
If the Vatican closes ranks around the sovereign pontiff, voices are raised to demand his resignation.
On April 13, 2010, the crisis fades when the Vatican publishes the "guidelines" of its plan to fight pedocrime in the Church.
During this crisis, Benedict XVI was repeatedly criticized for not having taken enough stock of the problem during his 24 years at the head of the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
But, contrary to certain personalities of the Vatican who cry with the media conspiracy, it recognizes the “sins” of the Church and undertakes a clearing up operation, resulting in the resignation of tens of bishops.
"I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. My pain is all the greater for the abuses and errors that have occurred during my mandate in different places", he summarizes several years later. later, in 2022, when he asks "forgiveness" to his faithful.
Nine years after his renunciation, many Vatican specialists finally believe that what characterizes above all Joseph Ratzinger is a real concern for transparency and honesty.
This is evidenced in particular by his action to clean up the finances of the Vatican and reduce the opacity of its bank and its accounts.
Initiatives which contrast with Vatican practices and which surprise on the part of a reputedly conservative pope.
An austere figure of the Church for some, a misunderstood pope for others, Benedict XVI left his mark.
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