Former Pope Benedict XVI Dies

JAKARTA - Sad news came from the former Pope Benedict XVI who had died, at the age of 95, nearly a decade after he resigned due to illness.

"I sadly inform you that Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 09.34 at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery at the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

Pope Benedict XVI led the Catholic Church for less than eight years until, in 2013, he became the first Pope to resign since Gregorius XII in 1415.

Benediktus spent his last years at the Mater Ecclesiae monasteries inside the Vatican wall where he died at 9:34 a.m. (08:34 GMT) on Saturday, December 31.

Pope Francis will preside over the funeral on January 5. Varatikan announced Pope Emeritus' body would be placed in St. Peter's Basilica from January 2 for "people's greeting".

The sound rang from the cathedral of Munich and a bell was heard from St. Peter's Square in Rome after the death was announced.

The Vatican said his body would be buried starting Monday in St. Peter's Basilica and that Pope Francis would preside over his funeral on Thursday morning in the same field where Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said funeral mass for his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in 2005.

"Following Pope Emeritus' wishes, the funeral will take place as a sign of simplicity," Bruni said, adding that the service would be "khusyuk and calm".