(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) The conservative Pope Benedict XVI, nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler,” passed away Saturday at the age of 95.
Journalist Barbara Walters also died on Friday, she was 93.
The German born Pope Benedict’s death was announced by the Vatican, according to NBC News.
“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican,” the Vatican reported on Saturday morning.
The Vatican will display Pope Benedict’s body in Saint Peter’s Basilica and his funeral will be held on Thursday Jan. 5th 2023 in Saint Peter’s Square.
During his life, Pope Benedict earned a reputation for his conservative defense of the Catholic tradition. His staunch and spirited resistance to efforts attempting to secularize the church, ordain women as priests, normalize homosexuality, and embody liberation theology were well documented and earned him the nickname “God’s Rottweiler.”
“God’s Rottweiler” strengthened his conservative reputation by restoring public opinion and access to the Traditional Latin Mass in 2007, as reported by National Review. In so doing, Pope Benedict brought an increased respect and acceptance for conservative and traditionalist Catholics who had been isolated after the 1960’s reforms.
Pope Benedict, after his retirement, continued to advise his successor, guiding him to the right. NBC News credits him with Pope Francis’s denunciation of transgenderism being taught in schools as reported by NBC. Indeed, Pope Francis said, “We must think about what Pope Benedict said — ‘It’s the epoch of sin against God the Creator.”
Pope Benedict, unlike most priests, was primarily a conservative academic as the University system drifted radically left. Indeed, he wrote 66 books according to the Spanish Newspaper As.
Barbara Walters, famed female journalist for a litany of mainstream media outlets also died in the closing hours of 2022, according to CNN. She was 93 years old and passed “peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones,” according to her spokesperson Cindi Berger’s statement to CNN.
