Pope Benedict's moving last words before he died revealed by Archbishop

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's "last comprehensible words" have been revealed, as his body now rests in St. Peter's Basilica, in Vatican City, Rome, to allow worshipers to pay their respects

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Pope Benedict XVI died at the age of 95

The last words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI before his death have been revealed.

Pope Benedict XVI, who served as head of the Catholic Church and ruler of Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013, died Saturday at the age of 95.< /p>

Benedict died at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican Gardens, which had been his home for the past decade.

News of his passing came just three days after his successor, Pope Francis, issued a statement to the world saying that Pope Benedict XVI was gravely ill.

According to his longtime secretary, his last words were overheard by a nurse, before he died on Saturday.

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, a German prelate who lived in the Vatican monastery, said Pope Benedict XVI's last words were: "Lord, I love you".

Benedict XVI now rests in the chapel of the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican (

Picture:

VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty Imag)

Archbishop Gaenswein said a nurse assisting the 95-year-old overheard him mumbling the words as he made a short statement around 3 a.m., later moving into the morning, New Year's Eve.

Gaenswein told official Vatican media on Sunday: "Benedict XVI, in a low voice but in a very distinct way, said in Italian: 'Lord, I love you.'

"I wasn't there at the time, but the nurse told me a little later.

“These were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards he couldn't...