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A comprehensive biography of the former Pope of the Catholic Church, Joseph Ratzinger, who resigned in 2013. Learn about his early life, career, papacy, writings, legacy and death.
Dec 31, 2022 · Pope Benedict XVI, the eminent German theologian and conservative enforcer of Roman Catholic Church doctrine who broke with almost 600 years of tradition by resigning and then living for nearly a...
- Priest
- Bishop and Cardinal
- Prefect
- Academic
- Pope
From 1946 to 1951, he studied philosophy and theology in the Higher School of Philosophy and Theology of Freising and at the University of Munich. He received his priestly ordination on 29 June 1951. A year later he began teaching at the Higher School of Freising. In 1953, he obtained his doctorate in theology with a thesis entitled “People and Hou...
On 25 March 1977, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Munich and Freising. On 28 May of the same year, he received episcopal ordination. He was the first diocesan priest in 80 years to take on the pastoral governance of the great Bavarian Archdiocese. He chose as his episcopal motto: “Cooperators of the truth”. He himself explained why: On the one...
John Paul II named him Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the International Theological Commission on 25 November 1981. On 15 February 1982, he resigned the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The Holy Father elevated him to the Order of Bis...
Among his many publications, special mention should be made of his Introduction to Christianity, a compilation of University lectures on the Apostolic Creed, published in 1968; and Dogma and Preaching(1973), an anthology of essays, sermons and reflections dedicated to pastoral arguments. His address to the Catholic Academy of Bavaria on “Why I am s...
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected on 19 April 2005 as the 265thPope. He was the oldest person to be elected Pope since 1730, and had been a Cardinal for a longer period of time than any Pope since 1724. On 11 February 2013, during the Ordinary Public Consistory for the Vote on several Causes for Canonization, Benedict announcedhis decision to r...
Dec 31, 2022 · Former Pope Benedict XVI has died, aged 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health. He led the Catholic Church for fewer than eight years until, in 2013, he became the...
Learn about the life, teachings and legacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, on the official Vatican website.
Sep 16, 2024 · Learn about the life and career of Benedict XVI, the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013. Find out how he became the first pope to resign since 1415, and what challenges he faced during his papacy.
Dec 31, 2022 · Farewell to Benedict XVI: ‘Humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord'. The 95-year-old Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away on Saturday at 9:34 AM in his residence at the Vatican's Mater Ecclesiae Monastery. By Vatican News. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has returned to the Father’s House.
