- Title: German Bishops praying after learning of former Pope Benedict's death
- Date: 31st December 2022
- Summary: PORTRAIT OF FORMER POPE BENEDICT
- Embargoed: 14th January 2023 12:03
- Keywords: Benedict Benedikt Bischofskonferenz Bishop
- Location: LIMBURG, GERMANY
- City: LIMBURG, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Europe,Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA003968431122022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:German politicians and church leaders mourned the death of former Pope Benedict on Saturday (December 31), hailing his importance to his homeland as Germany's first pontiff in 1,000 years.
"Today is a day of mourning, of farewell, but for me personally even more one of gratitude and respect for a great man of the Church," said Georg Baetzing, who is bishop of Limburg and head of the German Bishops' Conference. He led a prayer for the German pope emeritus shortly before the statement in Limburg, Germany.
Describing him as a brilliant theologian, Baetzing said Benedict was nonetheless humble and cautious - not born to take the stage but rather to reflect on the considerations of faith.
Benedict, who died earlier on Saturday aged 95, resigned in 2013, the first pontiff in 600 years to do so.
Explaining the shock decision, Benedict said he was too old and frail to lead the Roman Catholic Church and its more than 1.3 billion members.
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in the Bavarian village of Marktl, Benedict became a priest in 1951 and succeeded Pope John Paul II following his death in 2005.
(Production: Timm Reichert, Lena Toepler, Hung Trinh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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