. good morning, everyone. welcome to cnn this morning. it s december 31st. yes, it s the last day of the year. happy new year s eve to you, martin. happy new year s eve to you as well, amara. thank you. we are, of course, following breaking news this morning. pope benedict emeritus has died. pope francis had been asking for prayers. for the firstet time in modern history he resigned in 2013, citing advanced age, which paved the way for pope francis to head the church. cnn s delia gallagher with more. reporter: in many respects, benedict xvi was the pope who got a bad rap. nearly 24 years as pope john paul ii eternal enforcer and the german chancellor lived in the shadows of hitler s regime, referred as god s rottweiler. years of anything tev publicity caused many of his accomplishments to go unnoticed. he was the first pope to go green, making the vatican the first country in the world with a zero carbon footprint, putting solar panels on its rooftops, and bringing
one! well, those aussies, they know how to do their fireworks. they do. too right, as they say. beautiful. yeah, sydney harbour there with the glow. kind of looks like my neighbor s house. i m sure. here s another plus, down there in australia, they are just kicking off summer, so ga-day. welcome to 2023. do you have any big plans tonight? no. it s 12:01, quick cheers and good night, everybody. us, too. cnn this morning continues now. and good morning. it is saturday, december 31st, here in the u.s. we ve still got a bit of time left in this year, happy new year s eve. thanks for waking up with us. i m martin savidge in for boris sanchez. glad to be with you, martin. i m amara walker. thank you so much for joining us. we began this morning with breaking news and sad news to end the year. pope emeritus benedict has died. his health had deteriorated over the last several days prompting pope francis to ask for prayers. for the
Coming up on the top of the hour here on cnn this morning. you re looking live at sydney, australia, where they re prepared to ring in the new year with fireworks over sydney harbor. new zealand rang in the new year with fireworks over auckland harbor bridge. should we do the countdown with them? let s watch. ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two,