Mary Maguire, from Letterkenny, said she got ‘such a shock’ after being asked to take part in the former pope’s requiem Mass.

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Michael D Higgins led Irish tributes to the former pontiff after Benedict’s death on Saturday.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has fallen ill after returning to Italy from a trip to his native Bavaria to visit his brother, who died a month ago, a German newspaper has reported.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is returning to the Vatican after a four-day visit to Germany to visit his ailing elder brother, the Regensburg diocese said. Benedict, a Bavarian native, was expected to fly back from Munich airport around midday.