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overwhelmed by the responsibilities of leading the Catholic Church, particularly as it battled a worldwide scandal over clerical child sex abuse.

“Pope Benedict was one of the greatest theologians of his age –- committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence,” said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of Benedict’s native Germany, hailed “a formative figure of the Catholic Church, an argumentative personality and a clever theologian”.

The Vatican said Benedict’s body will be displayed from Monday morning in St Peter’s Basilica to allow the faithful to pay their respects, ahead of a “solemn but simple” funeral later in the week.

The German pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his resignation.

His health had been declining for a long time, and he had almost entirely withdrawn from public few when the Vatican revealed on Wednesday that his situation had worsened.

That same day, Francis called for Catholics worldwide to pray for him and he received the last rites, a Catholic tradition for the dying.

Benedict was pope for eight years between 2005 and 2013, a period marred by Vatican in-fighting and the scandal over clerical abuse and decades of cover-ups.