Pope Francis pays tribute to ‘noble, kind’ former pope Benedict

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Saturday paid tribute to his "dearest" predecessor Benedict XVI, who died earlier in the day aged 95. "With emotion we remember a person so noble, so kind," Francis said at a New Year's Eve service in St Peter's Basilica, offering thanks "for all the good he has done" and underlining "his sacrifices offered for the good of the church".!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {}; const { TimesApps } = window; TimesApps.loadFBEvents = function() { (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function() { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(...arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments); }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s); })(f, b, e, v, n, t, s); fbq('init', '593671331875494'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); }; })( window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js', );if(typeof window !== 'undefined') { window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {}; const { TimesApps } = window; TimesApps.loadScriptsOnceAdsReady = () => { var scripts = [ 'https://static.clmbtech.com/ad/commons/js/2658/toi/colombia_v2.js' , 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-877820074', 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-658129294', 'https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js', 'https://tvid.in/sdk/loader.js', 'https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/video_comscore_api/version-3.cms', 'https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/grxpushnotification_js/minify-1,version-2.cms', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#version=v10.0&xfbml=true', 'https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/locateservice_js/minify-1,version-14.cms' ]; scripts.forEach(function(url) { let script = document.createElement('script'); script.type="text/javascript"; if(!false && !false && !false && url.indexOf('colombia_v2')!== -1){ script.src = url; } else if (!false && !false && !false && url.indexOf('sdkloader')!== -1) { script.src = url; } else if (!false && !false && (url.indexOf('tvid.in/sdk') !== -1 || url.indexOf('connect.facebook.net') !== -1 || url.indexOf('locateservice_js') !== -1 )) { script.src = url; } else if (url.indexOf('colombia_v2')== -1 && url.indexOf('sdkloader')== -1 && url.indexOf('tvid.in/sdk')== -1 && url.indexOf('connect.facebook.net') == -1){ script.src = url; } script.async = true; document.body.appendChild(script); }); } }