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The first pope in 600 years to resign his office, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, died early Saturday at the age of 95, days after Pope Francis told a Vatican audience his predecessor “is very ill” and needed prayer.
Pope Francis, 86, who succeeded Benedict in 2013, will preside over the funeral Thursday in St. Peter’s Square. Matteo Bruni, the Vatican’s spokesman, said “Benedict specifically asked that everything — including the funeral — be marked by simplicity, just as he lived his life,” according to the official Vatican news service.