Former Pope Benedict, hero to Catholic conservatives, dies

FILE PHOTO: Pope Benedict XVI prays while holding a candle light as he arrives to lead a vigil mass during Easter celebrations at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican April 7, 2012. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Former Pope Benedict, the first pontiff in 600 years to resign and a standard bearer for conservatives who yearned for a more traditional Church, died on Saturday, ending an extraordinary period in which two men wearing white lived in the Vatican.

Benedict, 95, died in a former monastery where he had lived since his shock resignation in 2013.