PARIS: Tributes have poured in after former pope Benedict XVI died aged 95 on Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries, reports AFP.

Here are some of the tributes France's President Emmanuel Macron said the ex-pope strove with soul and intelligence for a more brotherly world.

The world has lost a formative figure of the Catholic Church, an argumentative personality and a clever theologian, he said.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed the former leader of the Catholic Church as a giant of faith and reason.

She described him as a Christian, a pastor, a theologian, a great figure in history, that history will never forget. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki bid farewell to one of the greatest theologians of our time.

Throughout his life, he showed the spiritual and intellectual depth of Christianity. He leaves behind a great legacy, he said.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said he was an eminent religious and state figure, a convinced defender of traditional Christian values.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Benedict was a great theologian whose UK visit in 2010 was an historic moment for both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout our country.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the Anglican world's highest-ranking cleric, described him as one of the greatest theologians of his age.