(Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
(CNN) --
Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, has died in Vatican City at the age of 95 after a period of poor health.
Benedict XVI, who was the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, died on Saturday, January 31, according to a statement from Matteo Bruni.
News of his death came days after Pope Francis asked worshipers to pray for Benedict, saying he was "very ill."
“I want to ask everyone for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict who supports the Church in his silence.
He is very ill.
Let us ask the Lord to console him and sustain him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end,” Francis said at his general audience on Wednesday, December 28.
At the end of the general audience, Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City to visit Benedict, the Vatican said.
There had been "a deterioration due to his advancing age" in the last few hours, a Vatican spokesman said on Wednesday, December 28, adding that doctors were monitoring the situation.
His health had been in decline for some time.
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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: details of his life, his historic resignation, his controversies and more
Benedict XVI shocked the Catholic faithful and religious experts around the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced his plans to step down as pope, citing his "advanced age."
In his farewell address, the then-outgoing pope vowed to remain "hidden" from the world, but continued to speak out on religious matters in the years after his retirement, contributing to tensions within the Catholic Church.
He was known to be more conservative than his successor, Pope Francis, who has taken steps to soften the Vatican's position on abortion and homosexuality, as well as doing more to deal with the sexual abuse crisis that has plunged the Church into the last years.
In April 2019, Benedict XVI spoke about the sexual abuse crisis in a public letter, claiming that it was caused in part by the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the liberalization of the church's moral teachings.
In January 2020, Benedict XVI was forced to distance himself from a book seen as undermining Francis as he considered whether or not to allow married men to become priests in certain cases.
In the book, "From the Deepest of Our Hearts," he argued for the centuries-old tradition of priestly celibacy within the Catholic Church.
Benedict XVI was originally listed as a co-author, but later clarified that he had only contributed a section of the text.
A year later, Benedict XVI came under fire for his time as archbishop of Munich and Freising, between 1977 and 1982, after the publication of a report commissioned by the Church on abuses committed by Catholic clergy there.
The report found that, while in office, he had been informed of four cases of sexual abuse involving minors, including two that occurred during his time in office, but failed to act.
It also revealed that Benedict XVI had attended a meeting about an abuser identified as Priest X. Following the release of the report, Benedict rejected allegations that he knew in 1980 that this priest was an abuser.
Who was Benedict XVI and what did he do?
In a letter published by the Vatican amid the controversy, Benedict XVI wrote that he was "in good spirits" as he faced "the final judge of my life" despite his shortcomings.
He also issued a general apology to survivors of abuse.
Born in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn in 1927, Benedict XVI, then known as Joseph Ratzinger, was the son of a local policeman.
Ordained a priest in 1951, he was made a cardinal in 1977 and later served as chief theological adviser to Pope John Paul II.
He was elected pope in April 2005, after the death of John Paul II.
With reporting from CNN's Richard Allen Greene and Hada Messia.
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