Conservatively Speaking : King Charles leads tributes from across the world to 'God's Rottweiler' Pope Benedict XVI: Monarch expresses 'deep sadness' at the death of ex-pontiff aged 95 as he praises his 'efforts to promote peace and goodwill to all people'

Saturday, December 31, 2022

King Charles leads tributes from across the world to 'God's Rottweiler' Pope Benedict XVI: Monarch expresses 'deep sadness' at the death of ex-pontiff aged 95 as he praises his 'efforts to promote peace and goodwill to all people'

Former Pope Benedict has died aged 95 following prayers for his failing health
King Charles has expressed his 'deep sadness' at the death of the former Pope
World leaders have paid tribute to the ex-pontiff as a 'great theologian'
He died at 9:34 on Saturday in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican
He was first pontiff to resign as head of Catholic Church since the Middle Ages

King Charles has led tributes to 'God's Rottweiler' Pope Benedict XVI after his death aged 95, with the monarch expressing his 'deep sadness' at the death of the ex-pontiff as he praises his 'efforts to promote peace and goodwill to all people'.

Within minutes of the announcement of the death of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday morning, a wealth of tributes poured in from around the world, while the Vatican revealed that the late pontiff would be given a 'simple' funeral, celebrated by Pope Francis, in keeping with his wishes.

Words of praise and fond remembrance poured in from world leaders and religious figures.

While a year-end holiday mood was palpable in the square of the small Bavarian town where the former pope was born in 1927, church bells tolled solemnly at St Oswald Church in Marktl am Inn, near the Austrian border.

King Charles paid his respects to Pope Francis on the death of former Pope Benedict, praising his efforts to 'promote peace' between Catholic and Protestant communities.

The king acknowledged the former pontiff's 'constant efforts to promote peace' and to 'strengthen the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church', adding he received the news with 'deep sadness'.

Former Pope Benedict was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in mismanagement and polarised between conservatives and progressives.