Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is no more, he was 95

Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI (XVI), the highest religious leader of Catholic Christians, died on Saturday at the age of 95. His health was very deteriorating.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said that Pope Benedict breathed his last at Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, 9:34 am on Saturday morning. He resigned from the post in 2013.

While leaving the post, Pope Benedict had said that his declining health was the reason for his resignation. Before Benedict, Pope Gregory XII resigned from office in 1415. However, the then quarrel between two groups of Christians was the reason for his resignation. Thus, he was the first pope to resign from the papacy in nearly 600 years of history.

Controversy arose over the appointment of a priest

Pope Benedict’s tenure was one of the most controversial in the two thousand year history of the Vatican Church. Last year i.e. in 2021, Pope Benedict finally admitted that in 1980 he was present at the meeting in which a priest, accused of child sexual abuse, was considered for appointment. Benedict had clarified on changing the old statement that it happened due to mistake in editing of his statement.

Benedict was Archbishop of the Church of Munich from 1977 to 1982. During this period, four cases of child sexual abuse were reported. Later, the church itself entrusted the investigation of the matter to a German law firm. It was he who made this report public.

Pope’s secretary apologised for the blunder

The Pope had previously said that he did not remember discussing these matters. He had also said that he had not committed any mistake in handling these cases. After this, his secretary Georg Ganswain issued a new statement quoting the Pope. It was said in it- that something had mistaken while editing his old statement statement. There was no bad intention behind this and that he apologizes for this.

Vatican tightened noose on Church laws after controversies

The report alleged that Cardinal Reinhard, Archbishop of Munich, did not act in two cases. Marx had also offered his resignation to Pope Francis in June 2021 in this matter. Francis did not accept the resignation. A few days before this, he had made changes in the Vatican’s criminal law. The law was made very strict in cases of sexual abuse.