so get ready for the brain a 40 to the answer to almost everything starts january 15th on d, w. ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. farewell to the former pope. the bells ring at saint peter's basilica, marking the death of the former pontiff benedict. the 16th tribute to the 95 year old begin to flood in from around the world will take you live to the vatican.

revellers around the world are ringing in the new year with the asia pacific region, the 1st to usher in 2023. sidney. welcome to new year with a spectacular firework display over its harbor. more than a 1000000 people, people are on hand. in germany, chancellor, olaf schultz uses his traditional year new year's eve message to pledge continued support for ukraine. ah, unexpired cert. welcome to the program. former pope benedict has died at the age of 95. a spokesman for the holy see said benedict passed away at his home inside the vatican. for centuries, the tolling of the bells in saint peter's square has been the signal that a pope has died. benedict health had been declining in recent days. hm. i am

here with sad news this morning, which is the sad news we anticipated with the holy c press office bulletin this morning. that was sorrow. we inform you that the pope ameritas benedict 60 passed away to day this morning at 934 in the matter ecclesial monastery in the vatican. let's take a moment now to look back at the life of former pope benedict, the 16th saint peter's square in rome, april 2005. got it. the name that thing, get it. joseph rat. singer is elected pope benedict. the 16th is in yoda cardinelli. the lord god knows have chosen me a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the lord lavinia this in your new polk from germany will make history, but leave

a troublesome legacy. joseph rat, singer was born in bavaria in 1927. he was the youngest child of a strictly religious family. he studied and then taught theology, and he ascended the hierarchy of the catholic church. in 1977, he was appointed archbishop of munich. shortly afterwards, he was made a cardinal. then pope john paul, the 2nd, brought him to the vatican where he was made prefect of the influential congregation for the doctrine of the faith. and when john paul died in 2005 rattling and became his successor, the new pope had a reputation for being quiet, modest and an arch conservative. he was also an intellectual and was not a man of grand gestures like his predecessor was even so his 1st trip to world youth day in germany was deemed

a success. hundreds of thousands came to cheer him in as pope he saw himself as the guardian of the faith of the catholic church and was a strict advocate of celibacy. 8 he criticized the recognition of same sex relationships and condemned doctors who performed abortions. ready benedict sort dialogue with other real sions seeking contact with the leader of the christian orthodox churches. he also tried to improve relations with islam and judaism. but there were also setbacks. for example, when he brought the controversial society a st. pious back into the church, even though some of its leaders were anti c mites and holocaust deniers. but it was the child abuse scandals in the church that cast the dark shadow, the benedict spawn ticket. more and more cases involving catholic clergy came to light in more and more countries. the pope spoke of his shame and he promised

transparency. but his critics said he didn't do enough. years later, the scandal was to catch up with him again, thought it well. at the beginning of 2013 benedict received some cardinals in rome . it was a routine meeting that became highly controversial because the pope declared he was stepping down at nab him sang to pitch, to steer this church. this ship of peter to proclaim the gospel for this a strength of body and spirit. unnecessary says, is a strength that has diminished me in recent months. to such an extent that i must recognize my inability to continue to carry out properly. the ministry entrusted to me and yoshi, debbie m. the news provoked surprise and dismay in more than 600 years, no, pope had resigned his own volition. there was plenty of sympathy, though, and hundreds of thousands of people came to benedict's last. audiences took

benedict left office on february the 28th 2013 a few weeks later. and there was an image for the history books to pope's standing side by side. the ameritas benedict promised obedience to his successor pay frances in the years that followed, benedict rarely showed himself in public but at the beginning of 2022, the report of the new inquiry into the abuse scandal in germany was published. it incriminated benedict, the 16th during his time is archbishop. he is said to have accepted a priest. although it was known that the man had abused children on multiple occasions. benedict had his private secretary read out a letter in which he rejected any personal guilt and offered an apology to cindy me . o me, couldn't come to the unquote own avoid up. on other occasions,

i can only express once again, my deep shame, my great pain form that and my sincere apologies to an old victims of sexual abuse . here since she had a demand that the fed adorn benedict critic said, he was shirking his responsibility. the ameritas type himself wrote in one of his last letters that he would soon appear before the eternal judge and was confident that he would be forgiven. and with me now for more and this is our religious affairs correspondent martin, gac tell me what life was like between these 2 pope's, we haven't had a situation like that for centuries. now we have some indication of what transpired, what, you know, the through, i mean, we do not really know a lot about it. what sort of was presented was a very warm relation between the 2 men. at the same time, it is known that they came from rather the friend political and ideological corners

of the church. but i think that in a sense that they were both quite committed to try to present a unified church, probably understanding their own roles within the context ideological context of the church. so i think that wasn't only warm relations, but the signal that i think that they systematically tried to send was that these are your logical positions. good courses. i think that to that it started the fact that francis quite often consulted with benedict sort of showing that he was still considered somebody that had legitimacy to you know, offer opinions at the highest level in terms like was it also because benedict was a conservative pope? and considered the doctrinal watchdog and had part of the church still still behind him. i think that to some degree, it is true, very much true that it was very important for friends is to show that he was still sort of engage with somebody who represented not just the conservative wing of the

church, but represented really the demand of doctrinal uniformity. so he was not simply going to go like sort of in, in that direction possible, but this was actually, in some sense, somebody that sort of grunted legitimacy to the theological say, one of the, this, of the, of the current fold. i think the fact is that the distance ideological to call distance overlapped to other political discourse. this particular that america were, you know, francis is not wealthy by the right. but, you know, benedict was, was him by the right and vice versa. as you move across the political, the political landscape and his resignation was while not unprecedented, but we have to go back 500 years. will it set a precedent possibly for future pope's as i mean, almost a retirement plan for? i think it certainly this, it did. i think 2 very important things. the 1st one is it made it possible. and that means that when we nowadays here, it's sort of the open discussion about puzzle resignation by frances,

who actually sign already his resignation letter. and it's there in case of it that he becomes incapacitated. this discussion would have been simply possible previous to benedict the sessions, really to stepping down. so make that possible. there are thing that he did is by shifting the sort of lifelong appointment into something from which one could actually opt out. he emphasized the side of the papacy, that is essentially an administrative and political role, not just sort of the spiritual was spiritually made. when might until death be the leader of the church. and i think that to some degree, this is what friends is. try to honor by keeping him in the fold, but at the same time it's very clear that don't you, patient is an administrative and political one and he himself said that he was no longer capable in 2014 of actually taking that forward 2013, so i think that these 2 things were massive changes in ecclesiastical history and protocol over 606 years later,

the less resignation of gregory the 12. and he was pushed out in a certain sensor, admitting that he had trouble dealing with the weight of the job. and without saying he was chased out by scandals, there were scandals, the sexual abuse scandal, the financial scandal is revealed, reeled in those vatican papers today. how far have we come in resolving those issues? how far has francis come to putting those problems behind? i'd say it's a very good question it's, it's very difficult to assess. i mean, in my view, the sexual scandal, the sexual abuse, essentially the sexual abuse. you know, for lack of a better word, global crime wave is something that has not been resolved. it's not been addressed . steps had been taken, but insufficiently. the bigger question in relation to about to can politics is internal wars that have been waged between different fractions. which are the ones that ultimately lead to his resignation because we should keep in mind that but the

lease is famous league of documents that thing directly out of his desk, happen under his watch in the hands of like he's one of his closest and most trusted assistance so that kind of thing. you know, i think it's a battle that he necessarily go far where if the size of the vatican will always always happen will continue. ok. martin got d w's religious affairs course on it. thanks so much for your insight. you're welcome. now let's take a look at some more stories making headlines around the world. russia has carried out another round of massive strikes across ukraine with at least 10 explosions supported in the printing capital. keep as air raid sirens sounded across the country, keeps mayor metallic, which goes at least one person was killed. one of the blast occurred in an area of residential buildings. as 2023 approaches, croatia is preparing for change. the e u member is set to join the open border shanghai area and at midnight and to

adopt the single currency, the europe croatia joined the 27 nation block and 2013. to adopt the euro croatia had to fulfill a set of strict economic conditions. australia has welcomed 2023 with a bang as millions across the country celebrated their 1st normal new year's eve. since the pandemic around a 1000000 people are thought to have turned out to see sydney's famous harbour fireworks display hundreds of millions more watched from around the world. it's yours to play was under the theme of diversity and inclusion with some 8 tons of fireworks being set off. and now here in germany, chancellor, olaf short is delivering his annual new year's eve address to the nation. is your speech is focusing on one of the main events the year, the war in ukraine as well as the challenges it posed for germany. full version will be broadcast later. the war in ukraine and its consequences dominated the year in german politics. in his new year address, chancellor,

olaf schultz unequivocally condemned the russian leda protein. why do we put in is conducting in the b, lismore of aggression? the heart of europe, this watershed moment is also a doubt, as for us and our country on the hard to pull on theology, we're all feeling the effects of the war in our everyday lives. talk. i'm going shopping in the supermarket at the patrol station and warping our electricity, our gas bills, regardless of the consequences, germany has been supporting ukraine in fighting the war. chancellor sholtes pledged further help the keys and its war effort. he also praised the west cohesion, the old pistol noon, the european union, and need to not split as they have been in various crises of the boston who guides belong on the sand. more united than ever dodged in re, in germany did not bow down when russia turned on the guys to some of it because he refused to be blackmail. restructuring the german energy infrastructure and the

economic relief package is drawn up by schultz is government have already cost the state billions of euros. but the chancellor repeated his promised that no one in germany would be left behind. shalt says take away from 2022. sticking together in a crisis is good for everyone, including germany. and that brings us to the end of our program. i'm expire, sir. thanks for watching. we're all set to go beyond the obvious of me all in as we take on the world. and we're all about the stories that matter to you.