The 95-year-old Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away on Saturday in his residence at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.
The Holy See Press Office announced that the Pope Emeritus died at 9:34 AM on Saturday morning in his residence at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, which the 95-year-old Pope emeritus had chosen as his residence after resigning in 2013.
“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 AM in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible. As of Monday morning, 2 January 2023, the body of the Pope Emeritus will be in Saint Peter’s Basilica so the faithful can pay their respects”, states the press release.
Pope Benedict XVI was born Joseph Ratzinger in 1927 in Germany, and was ordained priest in Bavaria in 1951. Initially he has embarked on an academic career as a theologian, and was world renowned for his studies in dogmatics, the doctrine of the church. Later on he served as archbishop of Munich and Freising, and in 1977 he was appointed cardinal. He was elected pope in April 19, 2005, and served the Roman Catholic Church as its head until his resignation in 2013.
Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő has said in an obituary sent to Magyar Nemzet that the late Pope “radiated light and serenity even in his years of weakness and illness. In him, the greatest Catholic theologian of our time has passed away. He sensed and understood the signs of the times. ”
In Cardinal Erdő’s view the Pope was a was a true European. He could listen patiently to the opinions of others. And he took account of the points of view thus raised in his decisions. He was a man of dialogue. Rigid formalism was as far from him as petty self-abandonment.
He knew and understood well the problems and joys of the Hungarian people, and followed the events of the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest with love and interest,
reads Cardinal Erdő’s obituary.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted a farewell message on his social media portal saying “May His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI rest in Peace.”
Likewise, Hungarian President Katalin Novák expressed her condolences in a Facebook post.
In a message sent to the Vatican, Viktor Orbán highlighted that in the memory of the Hungarians, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will always remain an example of high spirituality, the prime minister’s press chief, Bertalan Havasi informed the Hungarian news agency MTI on Sunday. According to Havasi, the prime minister gratefully remembers his private audience with Pope Benedict in 2010, and “their conversations about faith, the sanctity of the family and the importance of protecting our common Christian roots have strongly influenced his views ever since”.
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