Pope Benedict XVI – Vatican (April 16, 1927 to December 31, 2022)
Just before the end of 2022, the Vatican announced the death of Pope Benedict XVI, the first Pope to resign in 600 years.
Before Benedict’s resignation, the last pope to resign was Gregory XII in the 1415.
According to Vatican News, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Saturday at 9:34 a.m. in his residence at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.
Pope Francis shared news about his predecessor’s worsening health on December 28.
Benedict rose to the papacy in 2005 and served until 2013. He succeeded Pope John Paul II as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church.
Funeral plans are underway, and Vatican News reports that Pope Francis will lead Benedict’s funeral mass on Thursday, January 5. The Holy See Press Director Matteo Bruni Benedict XVI’s body will lay in state at the St. Peters Basilica from Monday, January 2, 2023.
Besides shocking the world by resigning, Pope Benedict XVI was the first to have a Twitter account.
Benedict, who was previously known as Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, was 95.
President Mwai Kibaki -Kenya (November 15, 1931 to April 21, 2022)
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013. He died on April 21, 2022, aged 90.
Before that, he served as the fourth Vice President of Kenya for ten years– from 1978 to 1988, under President Daniel Arap Moi.
Kibaki died after serving in the public and political landscape for more than half his life. He was the Member of Parliament for Othaya Constituency for 49 years before he became president.
During his tenure, he introduced free primary education and expanded the country’s transport infrastructure – including Kisumu International Airport and Thika Super Highway.
In 2008, he formed a grand coalition government with Raila Odinga, who became the Prime Minister after the 2007 contested elections, which plunged Kenya into ethnic clashes which saw more than 1100 people die.
President Kibaki was 90.
Queen Elizabeth II: United Kingdom and it’s realms and territories and head of 53 Commonwealth nations (April 21, 1926 to September 8, 2022)
Queen Elizabeth II’s death is undoubtedly the most significant death that made the world pause and attend her funeral and burial.
Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, died at 96. She died on September 8, a Thursday, in Balmoral Castle, Scotland.
She had been in power for 70 years, having risen to the throne in 1952. Interestingly, Princess Elizabeth immediately became Queen while in Kenya after receiving news of the demise of King George VI, her father.
56 Commonwealth Nations nationally mourned the death of the Queen by flying their flags at half-mast.
The state funeral of the Queen took place in the United Kingdom on September 19 and was attended by 500 heads of state and foreign dignitaries. The state funeral brought the UK, and the world to a standstill as millions of people from across the globe followed the proceedings on global and local news channels. In the UK, businesses and schools closed as the focus shifted to the state funeral.
Queen Elizabeth was 96.
Santos, the former president of Angola, died on July 8, 2022. He had been at the helm of Angola for close to 40 years.
He died of cardiac arrest while in Barcelona, Spain.
He came to power in 1979, four years after Angola had gained independence from Portugal.
He was caught up in the Cold War when Angola was a proxy battleground.
His rule was marred by a violent civil war lingering for about three decades against the US-backed National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels.
Dos Santos was 79.
Coincidentally, Dos Santos died on the same day as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated while giving a campaign speech.
Mikhail Gorbachev: USSR (March 2, 1991 to August 30, 2022)
Mikhail Gorbachev, the prominent leader of the Soviet Union, died in August 2022. Gorbachev, a law professional, rose in the ranks of the popular Communist Party to become its secretary general while he was a college student in Moscow.
His most significant moves as the party’s Secretary General were the Glasnost and Perestroika policies. Glasnost means openness, which refers to the freedom of expression and information he introduced in the Soviet Union.
Perestroika meant restructuring. This policy included restructuring the Russian economic structure. Thus, Gorbachev sought an economic policy to increase economic growth while increasing capital investment.
Gorbachev was also key in ending the cold war. From 1989-1990 he withdrew the troops stationed in Europe and stopped the segregation between East and West Germany.
Furthermore, he created an association with Ronald Regan, the 40th US President, a friendship that led to the cessation of each nation’s long-range weapons. This elimination facilitated the end of the cold war.
For his actions and accomplishments, Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
Gorbachev was 91.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: Japan (September 21, 1954 to July 8, 2022)
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on July 8, 2022. His death was the most tragic amongst the leaders in 2022. He was shot while giving a campaign speech on a street in central Japan.
The assassination of the former world leader in broad daylight shocked a nation not used to gun violence and prompted an outpouring of support and condolences from the international community.
Abe died from excessive bleeding and was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. local time on July 8, 2022, doctors at the Nara Medical University hospital said during a news conference on Friday. The doctors said the bullet that killed the former Japanese leader was “deep enough to reach his heart,” and a team of 20 medical professionals could not stop the bleeding.
The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41 at the time, used a homemade gun to assassinate Abe. Yamagami said he killed Abe because he blamed him for his mother’s financial ruin, which he linked to the Unification Church. Abe was not a member of the Unification Church, but according to a Reuters report, he once appeared at an event organized by the church.
Abe was the longest serving prime minister in Japan’s history. He served from December 2012 to September 2020
Prime Minister Abe was 67.
Pelé Footballer of the Century (October 23 1940 – December 29, 2022)
Even though he was not a leader of a country, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known best by his nickname, Pelé, is considered the King of Football.
Pelé, the only man ever to win 3 football World Cups died on Thursday, December 29, 2022. The Brazilian football legend succumbed to cancer.
Many people worldwide hail him as the greatest player ever to play football in the history of humanity.
During the 2018 world cup, the former Brazilian Minister of Sports was pictured in a wheelchair. After the tournament, he collapsed from fatigue and was rushed to the hospital.
On December third, while the 2022 World Cup was underway in Qatar, Pele released a statement to reassure his fans and friends after reports went viral that he had been put on life support.
“My friends, I want to keep everyone calm and positive. I’m strong, with a lot of hope, and I follow my treatment as usual.
“I want to thank the entire medical and nursing team for all the care I have received.
“I have a lot of faith in God, and every message of love I receive from you all over the world keeps me full of energy. And watch Brazil in the World Cup too!”
The legend had a tumor extracted from his colon in September 2021. He was admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo on November 29, 2022.
Among many spectacular achievements, he led Brazil to win World Cup titles in 1958, 1962, and 1970. While playing for the national team of Brazil, he scored 77 goals in 92 games, a record that no one has broken.
FIFA—World football’s governing body named him the World Footballer of the Century, and the International Olympic Committee named him the sportsperson of the century.
In 1994 he was appointed the UNESCO goodwill ambassador. In 1995, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed him the minister for sports.
Pelé, who won his first World Cup at 17 in 1958, holds the record as the youngest player to ever win the World Cup. On June 29, 1958, Brazil defeated host nation Sweden 5-2 to win its first World Cup.
Pelé was 82.