this is bbc news. welcome, if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm luxmy gopal, our top stories. the former pope, benedict xvi, has died at the age of 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ill health. pope benedict led the catholic church for nearly eight years until, in 2013, he became the first pope in 600 years to resign he was a kind, considerate, highly intelligent and sensitive man. and it was always a pleasure to be in his company even if issues that were difficult had to be talked about. this is the scene live in vatican city, where the former pope lived since 2013. his funeral will be held on thursday 5th ofjanuary and will be presided over by pope francis.

the former pope, benedict xvi, has died at the age of 95. the vatican says he passed away this morning at his residence there. his health had been worsening in recent weeks. benedict served as head of the roman catholic church for eight years until 2013, when he became the first pope in 600 years to announce his retirement. he was german by birth, and was known for his conservative theological outlook. bells tolling this was the moment his death was confirmed in rome. you can hear the bells ringing in

st peter's square in vatican city. the vatican says pope benedict's body will lie in state from monday in st peter's basilica, and that pope francis will lead the funeral on january 5th. here's our religon editor, aleem maqbool. cerebral by character, benedict was a prolific author and more at home with scholarship than pastoral work. he led the world's catholics for eight years and then abruptly resigned, the first pope to do so in 600 years. joseph ratzinger was born in southern germany. he was just six when the nazis swept into power. his parents were hostile to the regime, and though their son entered junior seminary in 1939, he was forced to join the hitler youth just two years later. he and his brother george were ordained on the same day in 1951. george became a parish priest, joseph chose a quite different kind of ministry. first, a doctorate, appointments

at prestigious universities, and then the vatican. a cardinal by his early 50s, an ailing popejohn paul ii made him head of the sacred congregation for the doctrine of faith, formally the roman inquisition. there he upheld traditional catholic teaching on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. he even spoke against rock music and the harry potter books. whenjohn paul died in april 2005, he was one of the church's longest serving cardinals and presided at the funeral. his homily, based onjesus�* instruction, follow me, proved prophetic. afterjust four ballots, white smoke from the sistine chapel announced cardinal ratzinger�*s election.

habemus papum. the oldest pope for 275 years. as pope benedict xvi, he sought to re evangelize the west. it was an attempt to roll back the advance of secularism in europe and north america. but in it lay an acknowledgement of the church's declining influence in its traditional heartlands. but he also sparked controversy in 2006 when during a lecture he gave in germany, he quoted criticism of islam by a 14th century christian leader and appeared to link the religion with jihad and holy war. there were violent protests in several muslim countries. the pope apologised and made a point of setting up the first catholic—muslim forum. he seemed chastened by the experience, and on visits like this one to britain, benedict exuded pastoral

warmth and warned against marginalisation of religion. i cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. but back in rome, the church was beginning to confront the scandal of sexual abuse by priests around the world. he was forced to deny that he'd played any role in covering up abuse. but the cases continued to mount. he later acknowledged he'd made mistakes in handling the matter. speaks italian in february 2013, he shocked the world, announcing he shocked the world, announcing he would resign at the end of the month, citing age and failing health. the election of his successor, pope francis, represented a break

with much of what benedict had stood for. the challenge was to find a leader who could close the widening gap between a doctrinally conservative vatican and the church worldwide. benedict bequeathed to his successor the challenges that so fatigued him, the scandal of child sexual abuse, and diminishing congregations in the west. pope benedict upheld the creeds of the church and taught them with conviction. he died as he lived, thinking and writing about how to defend and advance those creeds in an increasingly secular world. world leaders have begun paying their tributes. italy's prime minister, giorgia meloni, said... german chancellor, 0laf scholz, said...

the british prime minister, rishi sunak, said... france's president, emmanuel macron, tweeted. .. 0ur europe correspondent, bethany bell, has been giving us the reactions from st peter's square. we spoke to one couple from spain who were here in the square as tourists and they said that their tour guide told them the news and they had a sense of bewilderment, a sense that this was an unprecedented, historical situation.

and we then spoke to another couple, two women from bologna, who were in rome on holiday and they said as soon as they heard the news, they came here to saint peter's square to pray for the pope. there is a sombre mood here, some of the people are tourists, others have come to pay their respects. there had been concerns for some time, of course, about the health of the former pope benedict xvi. he has been known to be in poor health for some time and just a few days ago, pope francis announced at the end of his general audience that his health had taken a turn for the worse and he had asked catholics around the world to pray for him. in his words, to sustain him in his witness to the church until the end. and now, the news has come of his death, at 9:30am at local time. people will be coming here to pay their respects, as you say, on monday, people will be able to go to saint peter's basilica

to pay their respects to his body which will be lying there in state but we don't know yet the details of the funeral because this is an unprecedented situation for the church. we were told by the biographer of benedict that it is the first time in the 2,000 year history of the church that a sitting pope will be burying his predecessor, because of course, pope benedict, back in 2013, became the first pope in 600 years to resign. this is now new territory for the church and people will be watching very carefully to see how the funeral plans unfold. that's right, bethany, we will be getting more details. the vatican says, in due course, as to what might come next. in the meantime, tributes have been paid to the former pope, haven't they? we have been hearing many words and messages about him. yes.

we have had people from around the world, leaders from around the world, the british leader, the french leader, and people who recognised, paying tribute to pope benedict who led the catholic church for almost eight years. for the last ten years or so, he has been living in retirement here at the vatican city. pope francis has visited him at many times during this period but that has also created a somewhat complicated situation for the church because benedict had espoused a very conservative, traditional, catholic approach. he had spoken out against abortion, against contraception, against homosexuality, and pope francis has been marked by a much more liberal approach. sometimes that has created a situation where that has appeared divisive and the church, it will be interesting

to see now how the church handles the situation. we also have the question, will this be the first... will we see more resignations of popes after this move by benedict? will this now pave the way possibly for pope francis to resign, eventually? we have to wait and see what the situation will be. for some catholics, the resignation by benedict will be seen as something that shouldn't happen again, others will see it as a precedent for future popes to do that. so we will wait to see how that happens. here in the uk we've had a tribute from the archbishop of canterbury. justin welby called him... earlier, i spoke to vincent nichols, cardinal of the roman catholic church and archbishop of westminster. i met pope benedict on quite a number of occasions, but i think my memories

centre, most of all, around his visit to the united kingdom in 2011 when, in a way, i was, from the church point of view, his host, particularly when he was in london. i think he came to england with an immediate reputation of being god's rottweiler! but i think he left with a sense of him being everybody�*s favourite great—uncle, orjust uncle, because he was a kind, considerate, highly intelligent and sensitive man. and it was always a pleasure to be in his company even if difficult issues had to be talked about. one of the ways you described him in a post that you put on twitter was talking about his gentleness and actually that's a feature that other people have remembered him for, as well, and that seems to be the way that many have categorised him. you just mentioned right at the end

there, some of the difficult issues during his time, so perhaps it is the right moment to talk about his legacy, then, because of course, on the one hand he has been described by the archbishop of canterbury, just one of the tributes that has come through, in the past few minutes, the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, said that he was one of the greatest theologians of his but of course, during his time, it was a period of scandal and controversy and allegations of abuse among the catholic church. so it was quite a mixed legacy, really, wasn't it? well, he lived through a very tumultuous period as pope. but i think it important to remember that before he was elected pope he was in charge of the doctrinal section of the holy seat which had responsibility for issues to do with sexual abuse committed by priests. he was the one who set in motion what some people like to call zero

tolerance. so he personally was responsible for the leicisation of over 400 priests around the world once a proper due process had been done. he carried that burden, which was a considerable burden, but not the burden that the victims themselves carry. i think the two other things that i will remember him for, one would be, as archbishopjustin says, he was without a doubt one of the most erudite and yet accessible theologians of the last century. his two books onjesus and nazareth confronted some of the deepest scriptural issues, and yet presented the person ofjesus in a very accessible way. i think the third thing i would mention would be, coming out of the background through which he lived in, germany, central europe, more than any other pope, he understood and esteemed

the importance of democracy, but he also was able to challenge democracy to see how it needs a relationship between what he called the world of reason and the world of faith. so he said, when he was in this country, in 2010 actually, that faith in god is not a problem to solve but it is a resource to be discovered again. so those three things, his struggle with the terrible scandal and hurt caused by clerical sexual abuse, his status as a theologian, and his understanding of the role of religion in a particularly european context. i just want to go back to that first point, do you think he did enough for victims of sexual

abuse and you tackle the scandal? i think he did everything that was well understood at that time. he was, obviously, the first to sit down and talk and almost weep with people who had suffered from childhood clerical abuse, he did that in london. he took all the steps that i think he could but i think society as a whole was still at an early stage of really understanding how radical a problem this is and how complex it is because it is thoroughly engrossed in secrecy and deceit and all of those things, which when a priest is involved, make it a terrible, terrible betrayal of trust. and he was brave, courageous, but always, there is more to do. we don't solve these problems, we try and live with them, try to understand the importance to those who have

suffered of constant attention. but he made a brave effort at it and as well as always as a responsabilities. he was known for having quite a conservative outlook, some critics would say he was a restraining force on people who wanted a more liberal church. i always have a problem with applying conservative and liberal to the church. i think it is more complex than that, more subtle. what benedict did understand was the rootedness of faith and it's development through the centuries. some people would point tojohn henry newham, now a saint, as one of the great championships of the development of doctrine and how it changes in accordance with age. benedict was a huge fan of newham, he came to this country to declare

him a saint. so it is not easy to put new in one category and benedict in another and of course pope francis comes from a very different background. he comes from a latin american background, and a latin american way of understanding the church and understanding people has now, i think, come much more as a source place, a place of encouragement and inspiration for the whole church and i think that is more the shift. benedict was thoroughly european and understood the historical dramas of the last century, of dictatorship, and totalitarianism, and benedict comes with, sorry, francis comes with a much greater sense of what the people mean and of what popular movements are about. finally, in the past few minutes, we have had confirmation from vatican

spokesperson saying that pope benedict's funeral will be on the 5th of january. there are still more details we are awaiting but what do you think the next steps are and what would you like to see happen? i would hope, now, that catholics everywhere and other people of goodwill will be praying for pope benedict. it is a great tradition of the catholic faith that we can pray for the dead, we can, as it were, beseech god to be merciful in his judgment so that they may now enter into the fullness of god's presence. the fullness of god's presence is what we are created for. and this passage, now, from death into god's presence, we can only think of it in terms of time but we beseech god the mercy for him, for he too, like every human, needs forgiveness.

and we pray that he will be lovingly embraced by the heavenly father and given that place in the kingdom of heaven for which we pray for everybody. let's get more now from ruth gledhill. she's assistant editor at the tablet, which is a catholic weeklyjournal. thank you forjoining us. this is a good time to remind people that this is an unprecedented situation, the first time a sitting pope will bury his predecessor. we might expect, mightn�*t we, that the funeral will be a bit different to what we have seen from the funerals of popes before. figs seen from the funerals of popes before. �* , . ., before. as we had, the funeral will before. as we had, the funeral will be on the 5th _ before. as we had, the funeral will be on the 5th of _ before. as we had, the funeral will be on the 5th ofjanuary _ before. as we had, the funeral will be on the 5th ofjanuary in - before. as we had, the funeral will be on the 5th ofjanuary in the - be on the 5th of january in the morning and pope francis will preside at the funeral. i think we can still expect that all the heads of state and other senior dignitaries who would normally attend the funeral of a pope will be invited and if they can attend at the short notice they are very

likely to. also, cardinals from around the world will come and attend if they can. i think it probably will be quite similar to the funeral that we would expect if benedict had still been a serving pope. he is very well remembered from his time as pope, it is not that long since he stepped down, and he did maintain a presence in the vatican, maintained his papal name, benedict xvi, so he very much, his legacy is still very much alive and so he won't go... his passing won't be marked in any less a way, i think, just because he was a pope emeritus. we think, just because he was a pope emeritus. ~ . , ., ., , emeritus. we have been hearing many tributes to former _ emeritus. we have been hearing many tributes to former benedict _ emeritus. we have been hearing many tributes to former benedict as - emeritus. we have been hearing many tributes to former benedict as a - tributes to former benedict as a great theologian, but also we have been hearing this discussion about the child six abuse scandal in the

catholic church and how he handled that. which do you think will come to dominate his lasting legacy? del i think they both well. i don't think it is an either or situation, i think his legacy is going to be a good one overall. fist i think his legacy is going to be a good one overall.— i think his legacy is going to be a good one overall. at the time when he was pepe _ good one overall. at the time when he was pope emeritus _ good one overall. at the time when he was pope emeritus and - good one overall. at the time when he was pope emeritus and francis l good one overall. at the time when i he was pope emeritus and francis was pope was a really unexpected success, there had been fears with this unprecedented resignation, facing 600 years, took place and when he said he would stay in the vatican and live in a monastery in the vatican, there were fears that it would set up a rival court, rival papacy, and some people and drew on the traditional side of the church to try and build that kind of offensive against the present pope, francis, people who oppose what he is trying to do with the reforms you're trying to push through. but benedict to actually become the leader of that faction that some of

them seemed to want to do. he existed on maintaining his distance —— he insisted on maintaining his distance on the church's political divisions. i think one of his main legacies will be the one that he established when he was on his visit to britain in 2010. a theologian, as both archbishops of canterbury and westminster, a great theologian, someone who's spirituality shone through. he was a quiet, humble man, his stepping was a great act of humility and that humility was apparent during his visit here. of course, there will be the continued fallout from the child sexual abuse scandal which he had to deal with during his time in office, and which his successor is dealing with also. thank you for your time. we appreciate you speaking with us.

john allen is editor of crux who cover the vatican and the catholic church. he met pope benedict xv1 and has written two books about him. he told me what he thinks pope benedict's legacy is. i can say for sure that on a personal level, benedict was by far the most shy, the most humble, the most, sort of, self—deprecating, and gentlest of the three. i don't know that i have ever known a public figure where the disjunction between his public reputation... that is, this draconian, authoritarian, aloof, darth vader—esque figure, and the private man, that those of us who knew him personally, and knew him well, i have never known anybody for whom the distinction was quite as sharp as it was with benedict xvi, which is why, in many ways, for me, his legacy will be the legacy of a man who was tragically misunderstood.

before we go — some news coming infrom ukraine. officials say russia has launched more than a dozen missiles targeting cities. that includes the capital kyiv. kyiv�*s mayor confirmed on telegram there have been explosions there. officials say air defence has been activated in several areas, but this story is developing, we'll bring you more on this story when we have more details. we will bring you more as the story develops. let me briefly take you back to a live scene at vatican city. that is at saint peter's square and saint peter's basilica where people are paying tribute because they are gathering in light of the death of the former pope, benedict xvi. he has died today at

the age of 95 so that is the scene at saint peter's square where people are gathering. more on this later here on the bbc news. hello. with flooding still an issue in some parts of the country and more rain expected at times through today, if you are on the move be prepared — there could be some further disruption around. allow a bit of extra time for yourjourneys and keep up to date on latest travel news. your bbc local radio station is there for you on bbc sounds. some of the wettest conditions through this afternoon though will be across england and wales, particularly south west england and south west wales, that pushing from west to east. a little bit drier for northern england, brighter for northern ireland and parts of southern eastern scotland, but a chilly day here, also in northern scotland where there'll be some further snow flurries, barely above freezing, whereas we could had an incredibly mild 15 degrees across south east england. rain here, though, to start the evening clears away to showers. another batch of heavy rain then works its way northwards. and by the time we hit midnight,

the winds really picking up. quite a blustery end to the year across southern and western parts with gales in places. but there will be some starry skies, just one or two showers around. different story — newcastle, carlisle, belfast, some heavy rain here and glasgow and edinburgh by midnight you could be seeing some rain and sleet push its way in. a pretty cold feel across much of scotland, with some ice already developing in northern areas — just one or two wintry showers. now, the temperature plummeting here, that area of rain pushing northwards into the cold air, more significant snowfall across the hills, even to low levels in central and northern scotland later. temperatures could get down to minus seven, plus ten, though, tonight in the southeast corner where we continue to see some clear skies and a few showers dotted around. so into the brand new year we go, it's going to be one of those days if you're off for a walk, a bit of sunshine across england and wales. more than today, but some showers, especially in the north and west. more showers tomorrow in northern ireland and plenty of cloud for scotland with some outbreaks of rain, but also some sleet and snow in the north. another chilly day here, another pretty mild one further south. and then into monday after a colder start, frosty start, probably a better day to get out and about.

there will be some dense and lingering fog across, say, the solway firth parts of south west and western scotland. a few showers into the far west of scotland but most of you will brighten up through the day to sunny spells and temperatures closer to the early january norm. but as we go through the first week of 2023, more areas of low pressure will spin across the north, bringing bouts of rain at times, some gusty winds as well but equally, there will be those drier and brighter moments, too. that's how it's looking. happy hogmanay.

this is bbc world news. the headlines: the vatican has announced the death of pope benedict xvi at the age of 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ill health. his funeral will take place on the january 5th. ukrainian officials say russia has launched more than a dozen missile attacks targeting cities across ukraine. the attacks come two days after russia carried out one of the largest air strikes on ukraine since the start of the war. the world health organization says chinese officials must share more real—time information on covid in the country, after a surge in cases as its zero covid policy was dropped. president xi jinping says china's policy "maximised the protection of lives". celebrations have begun to mark the start of 2023. the pacific islands of tonga,

samoa and kiribati were first