Pope Benedict XVI dies: Resignation of ‘God’s Rottweiler’ shocked the world – and he continued to be controversial
The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict marks an unfamiliar junction for modern Catholics.
He is the first pope since the Middle Ages to die after retiring from office.
His death will trigger public mourning but not the election of a successor which many are used to.
Former pontiff dies after Pope Francis revealed he was ‘very sick’ – follow latest updates
Pope Benedict on a balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican
Pope Francis, elected in 2013 after Benedict stepped down, will continue in his role as the head of the Catholic Church.
As the world remembers the 265th Pope, it will also reflect on his time as one of the most powerful religious leaders on earth.
Members of the clergy familiar with Benedict say he was known as the intellectual pope.
“Benedict was a shy person. He loved books. He loved his desk, writing, reflecting. Bringing in beautiful German, and then also in other languages, his thought. But a lonely person. He was even telling people: ‘My true friends are the books’,” said Professor Felix Koerner SJ, theologian at Humboldt University in Berlin.
In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Benedict XVI, the first German to be elected Pope in a thousand years.
Read more:
Pope Benedict’s rise to the top and the controversies surrounding his reign
Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in 2010
An uncompromising theological conservative, cardinals chose him as a “safe pair of hands” and while a hero to many traditionalists, his time in office was marked by several scandals.
The son of a policeman, born in 1927, as a child he lived through Nazi rule.
As a teenager he served in the Hitler Youth during the Second World War when membership was compulsory.
While his family opposed Adolf Hitler’s regime and he didn’t join the Nazi party, many in the Jewish community were concerned when he was first elected.
On a trip to Auschwitz death camp, he confronted Germany’s dark past.
“This is an historic trip as important as that of his predecessor Pope John Paul II,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center at the time. “The fact that a German pope raised in Nazi Germany and who once wore the uniform of the Hitler Youth kneels in prayer at the site of the world’s greatest atrocity and condemns hatred is a repudiation of antisemitism.”
Pope Benedict with fellow priests, his brother Georg Ratzinger and friend Rupert Berger, on the day they were ordained in June 1951
This wasn’t the only flash point.
In 2006, Benedict sparked outrage in the Muslim world when during a speech in Germany he quoted a 14th Century emperor saying that Islam brought evil to the world spread by the sword.
Protest followed as fury spread.
A nun was shot in Somalia.
He later had to issue an apology, saying he was “deeply sorry” for the reactions his address had prompted.
In 2009, the rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier outraged Jews, as well as many Catholics.
Later that year, he sparked further anger when he told reporters on his first trip to Africa that condoms exacerbated the AIDS and HIV problem.
Despite these missteps, among many conservative Catholics, Benedict was popular.
Pope John Paul II (L) , with Pope Benedict – who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – in 1979
As a cardinal charged with enforcing doctrinal purity, Benedict was given the nickname “God’s Rottweiler” for his uncompromising conservative views.
As Pope, he was respected for his deep faith and his work as a theologian, producing 60 books between 1963 and 2013.
“His strength was clearly how to express the Christian faith in a way understandable to modern human beings. That’s his message. That’s what he leaves us,” said Professor Koerner.
Child abuse scandals marred his time as Pope and continued to haunt him into retirement.
While his supporters pointed out that he removed hundreds of priests from the priesthood for abuse, others felt he could have done more.
“The number one challenge for Pope Benedict was the abuse crisis, which was just gaining in speed and spreading all over the world during his pontificate. And he did take several steps to begin to respond to that. But his critics say that he didn’t do enough in the time that he was the Pope,” said Luke Coppen, senior correspondent at the Catholic website The Pillar.
The Sunday Easter mass benediction in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican in 2012
In 2022, Benedict admitted errors had been made and asked for forgiveness after an independent report in Germany alleged he had failed to act in four cases of sexual abuse when he was Archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982.
His lawyers argued he was not directly to blame.
In 2012, scandal darkened Pope Benedict’s door again, when his butler was found to be the source leaking documents alleging corruption and feuding in the Vatican.
“Pope Benedict’s pontificate was undoubtedly marked by great corruption and dysfunction within the Vatican itself. And he struggled throughout his pontificate to deal with that.
“And many people think that, in fact, his pontificate went off course, because of all the issues in the Vatican that prevented him from focussing on his key strengths of preaching and teaching,” said Mr Coppen.
No doubt exhausted by the “Vatileaks” scandal and ongoing ill health, the following year, Pope Benedict sparked controversy again, this time becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign.
Pope Francis and Pope Benedict in August 2022
In his final address to the faithful he acknowledged the weight of the office and the Church’s problems.
Then, in an extraordinary chapter for the Catholic church he said goodbye to cardinals before retiring to a monastery in Vatican City.
“That was a remarkable step he made. And there hasn’t been a pope since the Middle Ages who stepped down. So he, as a fairly conservative person, was also opening a door to a world of today where people need not stay in office until they die, but where they can realise themselves ‘I’m too weak now to lead, so I need to step down,’ even as a Pope,” explained Professor Koerner.
Pope Benedict will be remembered ‘as a Pope of reflection and thinking’
After retirement, Benedict chose to keep wearing white, give interviews and not to revert to his old name; decisions critics claimed threatened unity in the church.
But the two Popes’ personal relationship was strong, with Francis referring to his predecessor as a grandfather figure and asking people to pray for his friend as his health deteriorated.
“He is very sick,” Pope Francis told worshippers in December 2022, asking the Lord to comfort him to the very end.
Today, Benedict XVI is remembered “as a Pope of reflection and thinking” as millions of Catholics around the world pray for the man who led their church for almost a decade.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
World
IDF blames ‘technical error’ after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike
The Israeli military says it missed its intended target after Gaza officials said 10 Palestinians – including six children – were killed in a strike at a water collection point.
Another 17 people were wounded in the strike on a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al Awda Hospital.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant but a “technical error with the munition” had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.
The IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it “works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.
A wounded child is treated after the strike on the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
Officials at Al Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after the Israeli strike on the water collection point and six children were among the dead.
Ramadan Nassar, who lives in the area, said around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water.
When the strike occurred, everyone ran and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said.
Blood stains are seen on containers at the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
In total, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health officials said.
Two women and three children were among nine killed after an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida, officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Israel has claimed it hit more than 150 targets in the besieged enclave in the past day.
The latest strikes come after the Israel military opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah on Saturday. The Red Cross said 31 people were killed.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
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Palestinians shot while seeking aid, says paramedic
The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.
More than 58,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Read more:
Palestinians shot while seeking aid, says paramedic
Dozens of MPs call for UK to recognise Palestine as state
US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough, as a new sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
World
‘At least 59 killed’ in Gaza after Israeli military opens fire near aid centre and carries out strikes
At least 59 Palestinians have reportedly been killed after the Israeli military opened fire near an aid centre in Gaza and carried out strikes across the territory.
The Red Cross, which operates a field hospital in Rafah, said 25 people were “declared dead upon arrival” and “six more died after admittance” following gunfire near an aid distribution centre in the southern Gazan city.
The humanitarian organisation added that it also received 132 patients “suffering from weapon-related injuries” after the incident.
The Red Cross said: “The overwhelming majority of these patients sustained gunshot wounds, and all responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites.”
The organisation said the number of deaths marks the hospital’s “largest influx of fatalities” since it began operations in May last year.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
It said in a statement: “Earlier today, several suspects were identified approaching IDF troops operating in the Rafah area, posing a threat to the troops, hundreds of metres from the aid distribution site.
“IDF troops operated in order to prevent the suspects from approaching them and fired warning shots.”
Palestinians mourn a loved one following the incident near the aid centre. Pic: Reuters
Mother’s despair over shooting
Somia Alshaar told Sky News her 17-year-old son Nasir was shot dead while visiting the aid centre after she told him not to go.
She said: “He went to get us tahini so we could eat.
“He went to get flour. He told me ‘mama, we don’t have tahini. Today I’ll bring you flour. Even if it kills me, I will get you flour’.
“He left the house and didn’t return. They told me at the hospital: your son…’Oh God, oh Lord’.”
Asked where her son was shot, she replied: “In the chest. Yes, in the chest.”
Somia Alshaar, pictured with her daughter, says her son was shot dead. Pic: Reuters
‘A policy of mass murder’
Hassan Omran, a paramedic with Gaza’s ministry of health, told Sky News after the incident that humanitarian aid centres in Gaza are now “centres of mass death”.
Speaking in Khan Younis, he said: “Today, there were more than 150 injuries and more than 20 martyrs at the aid distribution centres… the Israeli occupation deliberately kills and commits genocide. The Israeli occupation is carrying out a policy of mass murder.
“They call people to come get their daily food, and then, when citizens arrive at these centres, they are killed in cold blood.
“All the victims have gunshot wounds to the head and chest, meaning the enemy is committing these crimes deliberately.”
Israel has rejected genocide accusations and denies targeting civilians.
Two boys mourn their brother at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
‘Lies being peddled’
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial US and Israeli-backed group which operates the distribution centre near Rafah, said: “Hamas is claiming there was violence at our aid distribution sites today. False.
“Once again, there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites.
“But that’s not stopping some from spreading the lies being peddled by ‘officials’ at the Hamas-controlled Nasser Hospital.”
The Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah has recorded more than 250 fatalities and treated more than 3,400 “weapon-wounded patients” since new food distribution sites were set up in Gaza on 27 May.
Read more:
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points
’10 children killed’ waiting for Gaza health clinic to open
Israel says permanent ceasefire ‘questionable’
Palestinians inspect the wreckage after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
It comes after four children and two women were among at least 13 people who died in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli strikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the territory said.
Fifteen others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not responded to a request for comment on the reported deaths.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Israeli has been carrying out attacks in Gaza since Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages on 7 October 2023.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The latest fatalities in Gaza comes as a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man was beaten to death by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health ministry said.
Sayafollah Musallet, also known as Saif, was killed during a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers in Sinjil, north of Ramallah, the ministry said.
A second man, Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, died after being shot in the chest.
Mr Musallet’s family, from Tampa Florida, has called on the US State Department to lead an “immediate investigation”.
A State Department spokesperson said it was aware of the incident but it had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
The Israeli military said the confrontation broke out after Palestinians threw rocks at Israelis, lightly injuring them.
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