Retired Pope Benedict XVI died Dec. 31 at the age of 95, nearly 10 years after leaving the papacy to retire to a life of prayer and study. His life and papacy are well-documented in photographs. Here is a selection:
Pope John Paul II greets then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at a Munich airport in November 1980 at the end of a papal visit to Germany. (CNS photo from KNA)
Pope Benedict XVI blesses the crowd in St. Peter's Square April 19, 2005 after he is announced as the new pope to succeed Pope John Paul II. (CNS photo by Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)
Pope Benedict XVI gives Communion to a man in a U.S. military uniform during Mass at Nationals Park in Washington April 17, 2008. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)
Pope Benedict XVI shows the Lourdes grotto to U.S. President George W. Bush at the Vatican June 13, 2008. (CNS photo/Jason Reed)
Pope Benedict XVI kisses a child as he leaves Amadou Ahidjo stadium following Mass in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 19, 2009. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Catholic Press Photo)
Pope Benedict XVI smells a flower offered by a girl during his visit in Luanda, Angola, March 21, 2009. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI kneels in prayer at the tomb of Blessed Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 4, 2011 after leading vespers for students from pontifical universities. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)
Pope Benedict XVI greets Bishop Donald Kettler then of Fairbanks, Alaska, during an April 23, 2012 meeting with bishops from the states of Alaska and Washington. The bishops were making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)
Pope Benedict XVI arrives by helicopter at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Feb. 28, 2013. It was his final public appearance before his papacy drew to a close. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI arrives for the last time as pope at the balcony of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Feb. 28, 2013. It was his final public appearance before his papacy drew to a close. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI walks hand-in-hand with young people during World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in 2005. He was just four months into his pontificate when he traveled to his home country for the international gathering founded by his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II. (CNS file photo)
In this May 28, 2006 file photo, Pope Benedict XVI pays respect to the dead as he visits the former Auschwitz death camp. (CNS photo/Peter Andrews, Reuters)
Retired Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household, left, toast men in traditional clothing with a beer during the German pontiff's 90th birthday celebration April 17 at the Vatican. The pope's birthday was the previous day. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)
Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid walk with pilgrims from five continents through the Puerta de Alcala during the World Youth Day welcoming ceremony in central Madrid Aug. 18, 2011. The pope arrived through the city archway with young people representing Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. (CNS photo/Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)
After his weekly general audience in the Vatican's St. Peter's Square March 15, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI blesses the Hope Monstrance, recovered from the mud left behind by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans and restored by a parishioner at St. Dominic Church. The Hope Monstrance is making a tour of three communities hit by disasters in 2017: Houston, Hurricane Harvey; Las Vegas, scene of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history; and Santa Rosa, Calif., affected by wildfires. (CNS photo/courtesy L'Osservatore Romano)
Retired Pope Benedict XVI is seen in a file photo strolling in a garden in Bressanone, Italy, with his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger. The retired pope has declined the inheritance of his brother Georg -- who died July 1, 2020 -- so the estate goes to the Holy See. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in this Dec. 24, 2009, file photo. In the encyclical "Caritas in Veritate," Pope Benedict explained that "subsidiarity respects personal dignity by recognizing in the person a subject who is always capable of giving something to others." (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Pope Benedict XVI greets a representative of students of the former Indian residential schools and the church in Canada at the Vatican April 29, 2009. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)
The brothers Georg, left, and Joseph Ratzinger, right, are pictured with their mutual friend Rupert Berger after their priestly ordination June 29, 1951 in Freising, Germany. Pope Francis led pilgrims in St. Peter's Square in congratulating retired Pope Benedict XVI, the former Joseph Ratzinger, on the 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination June 29. (CNS photo/KNA)
Father Joseph Ratzinger, chaplain in the parish of St. Martin in the Moosach district of Munich, celebrates Mass in a mountainous area near Ruhpolding in July 1951 after having been ordained a priest June 29, 1951. Pope Francis led pilgrims in St. Peter's Square in congratulating retired Pope Benedict XVI, the former Joseph Ratzinger, on the 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination June 29. (CNS photo/KNA)
Pope Francis greets retired Pope Benedict XVI at the retired pope's residence after a consistory for the creation of five new cardinals at the Vatican June 28, 2017. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he walks in front of the Munich opera house Sept. 9, 2006, with German Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Bavarian Minister-President Edmund Stoiber and his wife, Karin. (CNS photo/Wolfgang Rattay, Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI listens to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, on a flight to Portugal in this May 11, 2010, file photo. (CNS photo/Stefano Rellandini, Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI talks with young people on a catamaran as he makes his way to a larger gathering of youths at the waterfront in Valletta, Malta, in this April 18, 2010, file photo. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)
Retired Pope Benedict XVI speaks to his private secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, at Germany's Munich Airport before his departure to Rome June 22, 2020. (CNS photo/Sven Hoppe, pool via Reuters)
Residents and pilgrims gather near the house where Pope Benedict XVI was born in Marktl am Inn, Germany, as the pope's airplane passes over the village Aug. 21, 2005, en route to Rome after his four-day visit to World Youth Day. (CNS photo from Reuters)
Then-Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, is pictured in this file photo May 28, 1977, the day of his ordination as archbishop of Munich and Freising. (CNS photo/KNA)
Ukrainian Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych visits Nov. 9, 2022, with retired Pope Benedict XVI in the retired pope's residence, the Mater Ecclesia monastery in the Vatican Gardens. (CNS photo/courtesy Archbishop's Secretariat in Rome)
Pope Benedict XVI posts his first tweet on his Twitter account, @Pontifex, during his general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican Dec. 12, 2012. Looking on are Katia Lopez-Hodoyan of Rome Reports and Claire Diaz-Ortiz, manager of social innovation for Twitter. (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters)
Retired Pope Benedict XVI prays with Pope Francis at the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, March 23, 2013. Shortly after his election, Pope Francis traveled by helicopter from the Vatican to Castel Gandolfo for a private meeting with the retired pontiff. (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI greets a baby as he leaves a general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican May 23, 2012. Also pictured is Msgr. Georg Ganswein, the pope's personal secretary. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Pope Benedict XVI, Rabbi David Rosen and Wande Abimbola, representative for the Yoruba religion of Nigeria, smile as a dove is held up during the interfaith meeting for peace outside the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, Oct. 27, 2011. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Pope Benedict XiV embraces Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople during a Pallium Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in 2008. (Photo by Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit)
Pope Benedict XiV is processes out with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople during a Pallium Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in 2008. (Photo by Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit)