The head of the Catholic Church has died, aged 88, after a short battle with illness, triggering a global period of mourning.

The Pope made the call as an abuse scandal involving one of the clergy hangs over his visit.

Even after his resignation as pope, traditionalists invoked Benedict’s name and sought to draw him into internecine ideological wars. Now he is gone.

Former Pope Benedict XVI has died, aged 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health.

Immobilized pope recently named a slew of new cardinals, raising questions about succession