Pope Francis fired his predecessor Benedict XVI and in his first public comments described him as a man “so noble and so kind” that he was a “gift” to the Church and the world.
The Argentine pontiff spoke about the event in a homily for the previously planned New Year’s Eve Thanksgiving in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“It is with emotion that we remember his person, so noble, so kind. And we feel in our hearts so much gratitude, gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world,” Francis said.
Benedict passed away at the age of 95 on Saturday in the early hours after his health suddenly deteriorated over Christmas. He was a Catholic authority from 2005 to 2013, when he became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign rather than rule for life.
With an academic profile, considered a conservative by some analysts, Ratzinger lived in a monastery within the Vatican gardens since his resignation, the first voluntary resignation by a Pope since 1294.
