Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has joined world leaders and religious chiefs in paying tribute to former Pope Benedict XVI who has died at the age of 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health. The former pontiff’s body will be on public display in St Peter’s Basilica starting on Monday so people can pay their final respects. The Vatican has confirmed a simple funeral in accordance with his wishes will be held on Thursday 5 January, with the service in St Peter’s Square presided over by Pope Francis.

 

Mr Sunak said: “I am saddened to learn of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. “He was a great theologian whose UK visit in 2010 was an historic moment for both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout our country. “My thoughts are with Catholic people in the UK and around the world today.”

 

Sir Keir Starmer said: “I am sorry to hear of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict. His state visit in 2010 was a historic and joyous moment for Catholics in Britain. May he rest in peace.” They are among politicians and religious leaders from around the world paying tribute to the former Pope who led the Catholic Church for just under eight years until 2013 when he became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

 

Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin acknowledged there were “a range of views” relating to the ex-pontiff’s legacy on child sexual abuse – after a Church-commissioned report earlier this year accused him of mishandling cases before becoming Pope.

 

He told the BBC: “In many ways [the abuse scandal] marked his papacy, that period of eight years where he really led the Church in confronting the reality of abuse in our history.” Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican. His successor Pope Francis said he had visited him there frequently.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “My thoughts go out to Catholics in France and around the world, bereaved by the departure of His Holiness Benedict XVI, who worked with soul and intelligence for a more fraternal world.”

 

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said: “Benedict XVI was a giant of faith and reason. A man in love with the Lord who put his life at the service of the Universal Church and has spoken, and will continue to speak, to the hearts and minds of people with the spiritual, cultural and intellectual depth of his Magisterium.

 

“A Christian, a pastor, a theologian: a great man whom history will not forget.”

 

German chancellor Olaf Scholz described the former Pope as a “special church leader who helped shape the Catholic church.” “As a ‘German’ Pope, Benedict XVI was a special church leader not just in this country. The world has lost a formative figure of the Catholic church, an argumentative personality and a clever theologian. My thoughts are with Pope Francis,” he said.

 

Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said the former Pope always carried his homeland in his heart. “We mourn the death of our Bavarian Pope,” he said. “The death of Benedict XVI touches me deeply, as it does many people in Bavaria and all over the world.

 

“With him, society loses a convincing representative of the Catholic Church as well as one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. In turbulent and challenging times, he was the religious leader of the Catholic faithful. “Many people in his homeland will remember him with gratitude not only as Pope Benedict XVI, but also as a humble pastor.”

 

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has described Benedict XVI as: “one of the greatest theologians of his age.” “Today, I join with the church throughout the world, and especially with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and all in the Catholic Church, in mourning the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” he said. “In Pope Benedict’s long life and ministry of service to Christ in His Church he saw many profound changes in the church and in the world. He lived through the Nazi regime in Germany and served briefly in the Second World War.

 

“As a younger theologian and priest, he witnessed first-hand the discussions of the Second Vatican Council. As a professor and then as an Archbishop he lived in a divided Germany but saw too the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of his homeland.

 

“Pope Benedict was one of the greatest theologians of his age – committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence. In all things, not least in his writing and his preaching, he looked to Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. It was abundantly clear that Christ was the root of his thought and the basis of his prayer.

 

“In 2013, Pope Benedict took the courageous and humble step to resign the papacy, the first Pope to do so since the fifteenth century.

 

“In making this choice freely he acknowledged the human frailty that affects us all. In his retirement in Rome, he has led a life of prayer and now he has gone to the eternal rest granted by the Father. “In his life and ministry Pope Benedict strove to direct people to Christ. May he now rest in Christ’s peace, and rise in glory with all the Saints.”

 

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, described Benedict as a “through and through gentleman.” “I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of Pope Benedict, “ he said. “He will be remembered as one of the great theologians of the 20th century.

 

“I remember with particular affection the remarkable Papal Visit to these lands in 2010. We saw his courtesy, his gentleness, the perceptiveness of his mind and the openness of his welcome to everybody that he met. “He was through and through a gentleman, through and through a scholar, through and through a pastor, through and through a man of God – close to the Lord and always his humble servant. “Pope Benedict is very much in my heart and in my prayers. I give thanks to God for his ministry and leadership.”