Former Pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, almost a decade after he resigned due to poor health.

Benedict led the Catholic Church for fewer than eight years until 2013, when he became the first Pope to step down in more than 600 years.

He spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican where he passed away just after 9:30 this morning local time.

His successor Pope Francis will lead the funeral on Jan. 5.

The Vatican said the body of the Pope Emeritus will be placed in St. Peter’s Basilica beginning on Monday for “the greeting of the faithful.”

Bells rang out from Munich cathedral and a single bell was heard ringing from St. Peter’s Square in Rome after the former pope’s death was announced.

Following news of the former pope’s death people began gathering in the square.

Although the former pontiff had been ill for some time, Vatican authorities said there had been an aggravation in his condition because of advancing age.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed to his final audience of the year at the Vatican to “pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict,” whom he said was very ill.

Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was 78 when in 2005 he became one of the oldest popes ever elected.

For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests.

Earlier this year the former pope acknowledged that errors had been made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982.