The Brief

• Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was the first pope in 600 years to resign.
• He did so at the age of 85 in 2013, leading to the election of Pope Francis.
• Pope Benedict died at the age of 95 on New Year’s Eve in 2022.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis passed away Monday at the age of 88, ending a 12-year run as the first Latin American pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

Francis was elected following the shocking resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.

Pope Benedict resignation

Timeline

Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced that, at the age of 85, he no longer had the strength to run the Catholic Church.

He had led the church, composed of about 1.2 billion people, for the last eight years. He was the first pope to resign in over 600 years.

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 a future “popes emeritus” to do the same.

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File: Pope Francis (R) greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as he arrives at St. Peter’s Basilica during a celebration for grandparents and the elderly on September 28, 2014 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Dig deeper

Benedict ran 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.

What they’re saying

Being elected pope, Benedict once said, felt like a “guillotine” had come down on him.

No, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is no longer alive. He died on Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95.

Pope Francis led Benedict’s funeral Mass, the first time in the modern age that a current pope eulogized a retired one.

The Source

Information in this article was taken from The Vatican’s website and The Associated Press. This story was reported from Detroit.