Pope Benedict XVI: Irish Catholic leader pays tribute to former pontiff

Former Pope Benedict led the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013

Former Pope Benedict XVI took a "great interest" in Ireland and the Northern Ireland peace process, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has said.

Archbishop Eamon Martin spoke after the death of the former pope on Saturday.

He said Benedict believed that "peace is built upon respect for life and reaching out to the other, reaching out beyond your own tribe".

The archbishop said the former pontiff was "probably one of the greatest theologians of our time".

He described him as having had "an incredible ability to put the most profound teachings of the Church into very straightforward, simple and accessible language".

Benedict led the Catholic Church for less than eight years until he decided to step down in 2013 due to failing health.

In doing so, he became the first Pope to resign since 1415.

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On Wednesday, his successor Pope Francis made a public statement saying that Benedict was very ill, and appealed for prayers for the former pope.

Benedict died at the Vatican on Saturday morning at the age of 95.

His funeral is due to take place on Thursday. Archbishop Martin and Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell are to travel to Rome for the service.

The Catholic Church in Ireland opened a book of condolence in St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh on Saturday as well as online at the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference website.

Archbishop Eamon Martin was among the mourners who signed a book of condolence in Armagh

Archbishop Martin, who is archbishop of Armagh and Catholic Primate of All Ireland, was among the first to sign the book.

"At a personal level, I feel a certain attachment to him because I was appointed as a bishop by him just a matter of weeks before he himself resigned, so I'm certainly the last Irish bishop and probably among the last bishops in the world to have been appointed by Pope Benedict," he said.

When he first met the former pope, Archbishop Martin was a senior cleric, working as secretary to the Irish bishops.

"He said to me: 'I know that it's the secretaries who do all the hard work", he recalled, adding that he was struck by Benedict's kindness and "humility" during their first meeting.

Reflecting on the former pontiff's legacy across Ireland, Archbishop Martin told BBC News NI: "I just noticed over the last few days on social media, quite a range of views.

"Mostly people who respect him as somebody who was quite humble, even though the way he was often portrayed in the media was as somebody very strong and stern and severe.

"But when I met him myself, I actually found him to be a very calm and softly spoken."

He added that Benedict would be remembered as "an amazingly gifted teacher, an academic with great intellectual abilities but also someone who didn't reduce faith to any kind of academia".

A woman signs the book of condolence for Pope Benedict XVI

During much of Pope Benedict's papacy, the church faced allegations of abuse in Ireland and elsewhere across the world.

In 2010, he issued a letter apologising to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland where he acknowledged the sense of betrayal in the Church felt by victims and their families.

"It was a difficult message he had to give, he was expressing his profound sorrow for the grievous sins and crimes of abuse. He was really calling on the Irish Church urgently to address the legacy of abuse", Archbishop Martin said.

Two years later, a year before Pope Benedict stood down, a Vatican report into child abuse within the church in Ireland said "painful events" had "opened many wounds within the Irish Catholic community".

"In many ways [the abuse scandal] marked his papacy, that period of eight years where he really led the church in confronting the reality of abuse in our history," the archbishop added.

Irish president Michael D Higgins said the former pontiff had a "steadfast interest in peace in Northern Ireland".

"He will be remembered too for the value he attached to intellectual work and for the personal commitment he gave to such within the Roman Catholic Church, this work being respected by both supporters and critics," he added.

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar expressed his sympathies for those who will find Pope Benedict's passing saddening and difficult.

The leader of the Church of Ireland also expressed sympathies, describing the former pope as "manifestly a man of deep spiritual insight".

Archbishop John McDowell said Pope Benedict "combined the role of churchman and theologian with energy, leaving as a legacy a substantive body of published work that stands testament to a Christian scholar of great intelligence and learning".

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Reverend Dr John Kirkpatrick, made contact with Archbishop Martin to extend the condolences of his church.

"We acknowledge the grief being felt by so many of our Roman Catholic neighbours at this particular time," he said.

The President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Reverend David Nixon, described Pope Benedict as "a man of prayer and an insightful theologian".

"His life was deeply rooted in God, and in his teaching he encouraged all to a closer relationship with Jesus in their everyday lives," he added.

"We pray for comfort for all who mourn his loss"