Pope Benedict XVI, who became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, has died aged 95.
A spokesman for the Holy See confirmed Benedict died on Saturday morning.
They said: “With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9.34am in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican.
“Further information will be provided as soon as possible.”
It comes following reports that his health had deteriorated recently.
The former pope – who was the first German pope in over 1,000 years when he took the job in 2005 – spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican.
Nine years ago, Benedict’s resignation sent shockwaves the Catholic world, and forced the church to grapple with an event it had not seen in centuries.
His dramatic decision paved the way for the conclave that elected Pope Francis as his successor.
The two popes then lived side-by-side in the Vatican gardens, an unprecedented arrangement that set the stage for future “popes emeritus” to do the same.
Since resigning, Benedict caused controversy after refusing to revert back to his civilian name – Joseph Ratzinger – and continuing to wear the white cassock of the papacy.
Prior to taking up the role as pope in 2005, Benedict was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and served for 24 years as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, earning the nickname “God’s Rottweiler” for his conservative theological views.
Speaking before his death was announced, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster said Benedict would be remembered as “one of the great theologians of the 20th century”.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also hailed Benedict as “one of the greatest theologians of his age,” adding that the former pope was “committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence.”
“In all things, not least in his writing and his preaching, he looked to Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. It was abundantly clear that Christ was the root of his thought and the basis of his prayer,” Welby added.
Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, with Pope John Paul II in 1979. (Associated Press)
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had never wanted to be pope, planning at age 78 to spend his final years writing in the “peace and quiet” of his native Bavaria.
Instead, he was forced to follow the footsteps of the beloved St John Paul II and run the church through the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal and then a second scandal that erupted when his own butler stole his personal papers and gave them to a journalist.
Being elected pope, he once said, felt like a “guillotine” had come down on him.
With some decisive, often controversial moves, he tried to remind Europe of its Christian heritage. And he set the Catholic Church on a conservative, tradition-minded path that often alienated progressives.
He relaxed the restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass and launched a crackdown on US nuns, insisting that the church stay true to its doctrine and traditions in the face of a changing world.
It was a path that in many ways was reversed by his successor, Francis, whose mercy-over-morals priorities alienated the traditionalists who had been so indulged by Benedict.
Benedict’s style could not have been more different from that of John Paul or Francis. No globe-trotting media darling or populist, Benedict was a teacher, theologian and academic to the core: quiet and pensive with a fierce mind.
He spoke in paragraphs, not soundbites, and he had a weakness for orange Fanta as well as his beloved library.
When he was elected pope, Benedict had his entire study moved – as is – from his apartment just outside the Vatican walls into the Apostolic Palace. The books followed him to his retirement home.
“In them are all my advisers,” he said of his books in the 2010 book-length interview Light of the World.
“I know every nook and cranny, and everything has its history.”
