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Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries.
"With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.
He later told journalists the funeral would take place on Thursday, January 5, at St Peter's Square, presided over by his successor Pope Francis.
Benedict had shocked the world in 2013 when he became the first pope since the Middle Ages to step down, citing his declining mental and physical health.
His death brings to an end an unprecedented situation in which two "men in white" — Benedict and Francis — had co-existed within the walls of the tiny city state.
Tributes poured in for a brilliant theologian who found himself overwhelmed by the responsibilities of leading the Catholic Church, particularly as it battled a worldwide scandal over clerical child sex abuse.
"Pope Benedict was one of the greatest theologians of his age — committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence," said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of Benedict's native Germany, hailed "a formative figure of the Catholic Church, an argumentative personality and a clever theologian."
The Vatican said Benedict's body will be displayed from Monday morning in St Peter's Basilica to allow the faithful to pay their respects, ahead of a "solemn but simple" funeral later in the week.
A great pope
Big screens in St Peter's Square on Saturday morning announced the closure of the basilica and the square from lunchtime, prompting confused holiday visitors to reach for their phones and see the news.
"We are distraught," said Davide Di Tommaso, 30, from the southern Italian region of Molise, adding, "He was truly a great pope."
The German pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his resignation.
His health had been declining for a long time, and he had almost entirely withdrawn from public few when the Vatican revealed on Wednesday that his situation had worsened.
That same day, Francis called for Catholics worldwide to pray for him and he received the last rites, a Catholic tradition for the dying.
Benedict is the first pope to die since the long-reigning and popular John Paul II, whose funeral mass in 2005 in St Peter's Square drew an estimated one million people, including heads of state.
