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Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI passed away Saturday morning according to the Holy See Press Office. Born on April 16, 1927, in Marktl, Germany he was the longest-living pope dying at 95 years old.
“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away at 9:34 in the master Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican,” officials say.
In 2013 he told a packed crowd in St. Peter’s Square that his papal abdication, the first in nearly 600 years, was God’s will for his life. Due to his failing health, he felt it was best for the Church to choose another successor. “The Lord is calling me to climb the mountain, to dedicate myself even more to prayer and meditation,” he said during his address.
Since his abdication he has still remained a prominent voice, advising some of his successors in private.
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, to a German police officer, at 14 he was forced by law to join Hitler Youth despite his opposition to Hitler. It was during that time of his life that he decided he was to become a cardinal. He left the German military and was ordained as a priest in 1951.
In an interview with Time Magazine, he said he was horrified by what he saw happening to the Jews in the death camps.
His life was filled with many great accomplishments. He was a professor of theology at German universities, Archbishop of Munich, and Freising and then a cardinal in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.
One of his missions here on earth was to set church priorities and directions and during his papacy, he became a huge proponent of the Church going back to the early fundamental values it was founded upon. He saw what was going on in the world today and the rise of many liberal agendas and he admonished the Church to stay true to the Word of God.
He was criticized during his papacy for his handling of the clergy’s sex abuse scandals. His view at the time was that it was the fault of the increasing acceptance of sexuality outside the lines of the Bible.
He was vocal about his stance against pornography, homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda as a whole. He viewed those developments within society and culture as the culprit of the abuse happening within the Church.
At 78, he was the oldest elected pope in almost three centuries. At the start of his papacy, he already was experiencing some health problems. “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said. {eoa}
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