Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI), born Joseph Alois Ratzinger (born April 16, 1927) is the 265th and reigning pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State. He was elected on April 19, 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on April 24, 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on May 7, 2005.

One of the best-known theologians since the 1960s and a prolific author, he is viewed as conservative and a close ally of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. He served as a professor at various German universities, and was a theological expert at the Second Vatican Council before becoming Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Cardinal. At the time of his election as Pope, he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dean of the College of Cardinals.

During his papacy, Benedict XVI has particularly emphasized what he sees as a need for Europe to return to fundamental Christian values, in response to increasing de-Christianisation and secularisation in many developed countries. For this, he has identified relativism as the central problem of the faith and has taught about the crucial importance for the Catholic Church and humanity to contemplate God's love, and thus has reaffirmed the urgent "importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."

Overview

Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected pope since Clement XII in 1730. He served longer as a cardinal before being elected pope than did any pope since Benedict XIII (elected 1724). He is the ninth German pope, the last being the Dutch-German Adrian VI (1522–1523). The last pope named Benedict was Benedict XV, an Italian who reigned from 1914 to 1922, during World War I.

Born in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany, in 1927 Benedict had a distinguished career as a university theologian before being appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI, and very shortly afterwards made a cardinal in the consistory of June 27, 1977. He was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II in 1981 and was also assigned the honorific title of the cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Velletri-Segni on April 5, 1993. In 1998, he became sub-dean of the College of Cardinals and on November 30, 2002, dean, adding also as is custom the title of Cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Ostia. He was the first Dean of the College elected pope since Paul IV in 1555 and the first cardinal bishop elected pope since Pius VIII in 1829.

Before becoming pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was already one of the most influential men in the Roman Curia, and was a close associate of the late John Paul II. As Dean of the College of Cardinals he presided over the funeral of John Paul II and also over the Mass immediately preceding the 2005 conclave in which he was elected, in which he called on the assembled cardinals to hold fast to the doctrine of the faith. He was the public face of the church in the sede vacante period, although technically he ranked below the camerlengo in administrative authority during that time.

Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI maintains the traditional Catholic doctrines on artificial birth control, abortion, and homosexuality while promoting Catholic social teaching.

Benedict speaks fluently his native German, and also Italian, French, English, Spanish and Latin. He can read ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew. He is a member of a large number of academies, such as the French Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart and Beethoven.

Early life (1927–1951)

Main article: Early life of Pope Benedict XVI

Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born on 16th April, Holy Saturday, 1927 at Schulstrasse 11, his parents' home in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria. He was baptized the same day. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a police officer, and Maria Ratzinger (née Peintner). Pope Benedict's brother, Georg, a priest and former director of the Regensburger Domspatzen choir, is still alive. His sister, Maria Ratzinger, who never married, managed Cardinal Ratzinger's household until her death in 1991. The pope's relatives agree that his priestly vocation was apparent from boyhood. At the age of five, Ratzinger was in a group of children who welcomed the visiting Cardinal Archbishop of Munich with flowers. Struck by the Cardinal's distinctive costume, he later annouced the very same day that he wanted to be a cardinal.

Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger joined the Hitler Youth, membership of which was legally required from December 1936. According to one of Ratzinger's biographers, the National Catholic Reporter correspondent John Allen, he was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings. In 1943, when he was 16, Ratzinger was drafted with many of his classmates into the Luftwaffenhelfer programme. After his class was released from the Corps in September 1944, Ratzinger was put to work setting up anti-tank defences in the Hungarian border area of Austria in preparation for the expected Red Army offensive. He was eventually drafted into the German army at Munich to receive basic infantry training in the nearby town of Traunstein. His unit served at various posts around the city and was never sent to the front. Ratzinger was briefly interned in an Allied prisoner-of-war camp near Ulm and was repatriated on June 19, 1945. The family was reunited when his brother, Georg, returned after being repatriated from a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy.

Following repatriation in 1945, the two brothers entered Saint Michael Seminary in Traunstein, and then studied at the Ducal Georgianum (Herzogliches Georgianum) of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. They were both ordained on June 29, 1951 by Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber of Munich. Joseph Ratzinger's dissertation (1953) was on Augustine, entitled "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church". His Habilitationsschrift (which qualified him for a professorship) was on Bonaventure. It was completed in 1957 and he became a professor of Freising College in 1958.

Early church career (1951–1981)

Ratzinger became a professor at the University of Bonn in 1959; his inaugural lecture was on "The God of Faith and the God of Philosophy." In 1963, he moved to the University of Münster, where his inaugural lecture was given in a packed lecture hall, as he was already well known as a theologian. At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Ratzinger served as a peritus or theological consultant to Josef Cardinal Frings of Cologne, Germany, and has continued to defend the council, including Nostra Aetate, the document on respect of other religions and the declaration of the right to religious freedom. He was viewed during the time of the Council as a reformer. (Later, as the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger most clearly spelled out the Catholic Church's position on other religions in the document Dominus Iesus (2000) which also talks about the proper way to engage in ecumenical dialogue.)

In 1966, he was appointed to a chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen, where he was a colleague of Hans Küng. In his 1968 book Introduction to Christianity, he wrote that the pope has a duty to hear differing voices within the Church before making a decision, and downplayed the centrality of the papacy. He also wrote that the Church of the time was too centralized, rule-bound and overly controlled from Rome. These sentences, however, did not appear in later editions of the book. During this time, he distanced himself from the atmosphere of Tübingen and the Marxist leanings of the student movement of the 1960s, that in Germany quickly radicalised in the years 1967 and 1968, culminating in a series of disturbances and riots in April and May 1968. Ratzinger came increasingly to see these and associated developments (such as decreasing respect for authority among his students, the rise of the German gay rights movement) as related to a departure from traditional Catholic teachings. Increasingly, his views, despite his reformist bent, contrasted with those liberal ideas gaining currency theological circles. In 1969, he returned to Bavaria, to the University of Regensburg.

In 1972, he founded the theological journal Communio with Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, Walter Kasper and others. Communio, now published in seventeen editions (German, English, Spanish and many others), has become a prominent journal of Catholic thought. Until his election as Pope, he remained one of the journal's most prolific contributors.

In March 1977, Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising. He took as his episcopal motto Cooperatores Veritatis, co-workers of the Truth, from 3 John: 8, a choice he comments upon in his autobiographical work, Milestones.

In the consistory of June 1977, he was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. By the time of the 2005 Conclave, he was one of only 14 remaining cardinals appointed by Paul VI, and one of only three of those under the age of 80. Of these only he and Cardinal William Baum took part in the Conclave.

Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1981–2005)

On November 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II named Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office, the historical Inquisition. Consequently, he resigned his post at Munich in early 1982. He was promoted with the College of Cardinals to become to Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni in 1993, was made the College's vice-dean in 1998 and dean in 2002.

In office, Ratzinger fulfilled his institutional role, defending and reaffirming official Catholic doctrine, including teaching on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and inter-religious dialogue. During his period in office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith took disciplinary measures against some outspoken liberation theologians in Latin America in the 1980s.

(See also Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.)

Health

In the early 1990s Ratzinger suffered a stroke, which slightly impaired his eyesight temporarily. The existence of the stroke was known to the Conclave that elected him pope. In May 2005, the Vatican revealed that he had subsequently suffered another mild stroke - it did not reveal when, other than that it occurred between

Response to sex abuse scandal

As Cardinal Ratzinger was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the sexual abuse of minors by priests was his responsibility to investigate from 2001, when that charge was given to the CDF by Pope John Paul II.

As part of the implementation of the norms enacted and promulgated on April 30 2001 by Pope John Paul II, on May 18, 2001 Ratzinger sent a letter to every bishop in the Catholic Church reminding them of the strict penalties facing those who revealed confidential details concerning enquiries into allegations against priests of certain grave ecclesiastical crimes, including sexual abuse, reserved to the jurisdiction of the CDF. The letter extended the prescription (statute of limitations) for these crimes to ten years. However, when the crime is sexual abuse of a minor, the "prescription begins to run from the day on that which the minor completes the eighteenth year of age." Lawyers acting for two alleged victims of abuse in Texas claim that by sending the letter the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice. The letter did not discourage victims from reporting the abuse itself to the police. The secrecy is related to the internal investigation of the alleged crime. "The letter said the new norms reflected the CDF's traditional “exclusive competence” regarding delicta graviora—Latin for “graver offenses.” According to canon law experts in Rome, reserving cases of clerical sexual abuse of minors to the CDF is something new. In past eras, some serious crimes by priests against sexual morality, including pedophilia, were handled by that congregation or its predecessor, the Holy Office, but this has not been true in recent years." The promulgation of the norms by Pope John Paul II and the subsequent letter by the then Prefect of the CDF were published in 2001 in Acta Apostolicae Sedis which, in accordance with the Code of Canon Law , is the Holy See's official journal, disseminated monthly to thousands of libraries and offices around the world.

In 2002, Ratzinger told the Catholic News Service that "less than one percent of priests are guilty of acts of this type." Opponents saw this as ignoring the crimes of those who committed the abuse; others saw it as merely pointing out that this should not taint other priests who live respectable lives. His Good Friday reflections in 2005 were interpreted as strongly condemning and regretting the abuse scandals, which largely put to rest the speculation of indifference. Shortly after his election, he told Francis Cardinal George, the Archbishop of Chicago, that he would attend to the matter.

Dialogue with non-Christian religions

In 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a document entitled Dominus Iesus, which reaffirmed the historic doctrine and mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel. This was misunderstood by some who mistakenly believed that the Church had previously repudiated its unique role in the world.

This document pointed out the danger to the Church of relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism by denying that God has revealed truth to humanity. (par. 4)

Addressing the question that one religion is as a good as another (syncretism or indifferentism), it states, "..followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation." (par.22)

The deliberate omission of the "filioque" clause ("and the Son") in the first paragraph is seen as an outreach to the Greek Orthodox Church which has been in conflict with the Latin Catholic Church over its addition to the Nicene Creed for about one thousand years.

The World Jewish Congress "welcomed" his election to the pontificate, noted "his great sensitivity to the Jewish history and the Holocaust," and quoted the Pope in its press release:

Even if the most recent, loathsome experience of the Shoah (Holocaust) was perpetrated in the name of an anti-Christian ideology, which tried to strike the Christian faith at its Abrahamic roots in the people of Israel, it cannot be denied that a certain insufficient resistance to this atrocity on the part of Christians can be explained by an inherited anti-Judaism present in the hearts of not a few Christians.

The Dalai Lama congratulated Pope Benedict XVI upon his election.

In an interview in 2004 for Le Figaro magazine, Ratzinger said that Turkey, a country Muslim by heritage and population, but staunchly secularist by its state constitution, should seek its future in an association of Islamic nations rather than the European Union, which has Christian roots. He said Turkey had always been "in permanent contrast to Europe" and that linking it to Europe would be a mistake.

His defenders argue that it is to be expected that a leader within the Catholic Church would forcefully and explicitly argue in favor of the superiority of Catholicism over other religions. Others also maintain that single quotes from Dominus Iesus are not indicative of intolerance or an unwillingness to engage in dialogue with other faiths, and this is clear from a reading of the entire document. They point out that Ratzinger has been very active in promoting inter-faith dialogue. In defending Dominus Iesus, Ratzinger himself has stated that his belief is that inter-faith dialogue should take place on the basis of equal human dignity, but that equality of human dignity should not imply that each side is equally correct.

Ratzinger and Fatima

Until her death, Lúcia dos Santos, the last surviving of the three Fatima visionaries, was forbidden to discuss the Fatima revelations publicly unless given leave by Cardinal Ratzinger. He was one of seven people known to have read the actual Third Message put into writing in 1944, and the author of the Theological Commentary on the Third Message, published with the message itself in 2000.

In 1984, an interview with Ratzinger was published in the Pauline Sisters newsletter and states that the message deals with "dangers threatening the faith and the life of the Christian and therefore of the world", while stating that it marks the beginning of the end-times. A year later, the interview was re-published in The Ratzinger Report, although several statements were omitted.

In October 1987 he stated that "the things contained in Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions; first of all, that of Fatima in what is already known of what its message contains, conversion and penitence are the essential conditions for salvation".

In 1997, Ratzinger and Capovilla publicly stated that the Third Message was not being withheld for fears it would condemn the changes of the Vatican II council.

On June 26 2000, following the release of the text of the prophecy, Ratzinger issued a joint statement with Cardinal Bertone that the third and final chapter of Mary's prophecy had been fulfilled in 1981 in a failed attempt on the Pope's life. He was quoted in the media as stating, "No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled. A careful reading of the text will probably prove disappointing."

Papacy

Election to the Papacy

Prediction

On January 2, 2005, Time magazine quoted unnamed Vatican sources as saying that Ratzinger was a frontrunner to succeed John Paul II should the pope die or become too ill to continue as pope. On the death of John Paul II, the Financial Times gave the odds of Ratzinger becoming pope as 7–1, the lead position, but close to his rivals on the liberal wing of the church. In April 2005, before his election as pope, he was identified as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Ratzinger himself had repeatedly stated he would like to retire to a Bavarian village and dedicate himself to writing books, but more recently, he told friends he was ready to "accept any charge God placed on him."

Piers Paul Read wrote in The Spectator on March 5, 2005:

There can be little doubt that his courageous promotion of orthodox Catholic teaching has earned him the respect of his fellow cardinals throughout the world. He is patently holy, highly intelligent and sees clearly what is at stake. Indeed, for those who blame the decline of Catholic practice in the developed world precisely on the propensity of many European bishops to hide their heads in the sand, a pope who confronts it may be just what is required. Ratzinger is no longer young—he is 78 years old: but Angelo Roncalli, who revolutionized Catholicism by calling the Second Vatican Council was almost the same age (76) when he became pope as John XXIII. As Jeff Israely, the correspondent of Time, was told by a Vatican insider last month, "The Ratzinger solution is definitely on."

Though Ratzinger was increasingly considered the front runner by much of the international media, others maintained that his election was far from certain since very few papal predictions in modern history had come true. The elections of both John Paul II and his predecessor, John Paul I had been rather unexpected. Despite being the favourite (or perhaps because he was the favourite), it was a surprise to many that he was actually elected.

Election

On April 19, 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II on the second day of the papal conclave after four ballots. Coincidentally, April 19 is the feast of St. Leo IX, the most important German pope of the Middle Ages, known for instituting major reforms during his pontificate.

Cardinal Ratzinger had hoped to retire peacefully and said that "At a certain point, I prayed to God 'please don't do this to me'..Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me."

Before his first appearance at the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica after becoming pope, he was announced by the Jorge Cardinal Medina Estévez, protodeacon of the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Medina Estévez first addressed the massive crowd as "dear(est) brothers and sisters" in Italian, Spanish, French, German and English — each language receiving cheers from the international crowd — before continuing with the traditional Habemus Papam announcement in Latin.

At the balcony, Benedict's first words to the crowd, given in Italian before he gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in Latin, were:

Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.

The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

In the joy of the Risen Lord, let us move forward, confident of his unfailing help. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you.

(Official translation taken from ).

He then gave the blessing to the people.

On April 24, he was inaugurated in St. Peters, formally becoming the 265th pope by the official Vatican reckoning. Then, on May 7, he was enthroned in a mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Choice of name

The choice of the regnal name Benedict (Latin "the blessed") is significant. Benedict XVI used his first General Audience in St. Peter's Square, on April 27, 2005, to explain to the world why he chose the name:

"Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I



place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Norcia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions!"

Early days of Papacy

Pope Benedict has confounded the expectations of many in the early days of his papacy by his gentle public persona and his promise to listen. It is notable that he has used an open popemobile, saying that he wants to be closer to the people.

Benedict's coat of arms has officially omitted the papal tiara, traditionally appearing in the background to designate the Pope's position and replaced it with a simple mitre. However, there have been papal documents since his inauguration that have been appearing with the papal tiara present. Since it is the shield and not the background which is unique to the individual Pope, various backgrounds are possible (though rarely used) for even a single shield.

During his inaugural Mass, the previous custom of all the cardinals submitting was replaced by having 12 people, representing cardinals, clergy, religious, a married couple and their child, and newly confirmed people, submit to him. However, all the cardinals had already sworn their obedience upon his election. In a return to tradition, Benedict chose to resurrect the tradition of delegating the celebration of the beatification liturgies.

Teachings

As Pope, Benedict XVI's main role is to teach about the Catholic faith and the solutions to the problems of the faith, a role that he can play well being a former head of the Church's Congregation of the Faith. The emphases of his teachings are stated in more detail in Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.

Friendship with Jesus Christ

According to commentators, during the Inaugural Mass, the core of his message, the most moving and famous part, is found in the last paragraph of his homily where he referred to both Jesus Christ and John Paul II. After referring to John Paul II's well-known words (Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!), Benedict XVI says:

Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?..And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation..When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.

"Friendship with Jesus Christ" is a theme of his preaching which is found in many of his homilies and his addresses. For example, his address to the priests of Rome, his diocese as bishop, , to the cardinals in the pre-conclave, a key public address to the Church's top leaders , and to 150,000 people among whom were children going to their First Communion. He also said: "We are all called to open ourselves to this friendship with God.. speaking to him as to a friend, the only One who can make the world both good and happy.. (T)hat all we have to do is put ourselves at his disposal..is an extremely important message. It is a message that helps to overcome what can be considered the great temptation of our time: the claim, that after the Big Bang, God withdrew from history."

He took this theme up again in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. In his personal explanation and summary of the encyclical, he stated: "If friendship with God becomes for us something ever more important and decisive, then we will begin to love those whom God loves and who are in need of us. God wants us to be friends of his friends and we can be so, if we are interiorly close to them." Thus, he said that prayer is "urgently needed..It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."

Combatting a "Dictatorship of relativism"

Continuing what he said in the pre-conclave Mass about what he has often referred to as the "central problem of our faith today": the world "moving towards a dictatorship of relativism", on June 6, 2005 he also said:

"Today, a particularly insidious obstacle to the task of education is the massive presence in our society and culture of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. And under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one, for it separates people from one another, locking each person into his or her own ego"

He also traced the failed revolutions and violent ideologies of the 20th century to a conversion of partial points of view into absolute guides: "Absolutizing what is not absolute but relative is called totalitarianism," he said during World Youth Day.

Christianity as the Religion according to Reason

In the discussion with secularism and rationalism, one of Benedict's basic ideas can be found in his address on the "Crisis of Culture" in the West, a day before Pope John Paul II died, when he referred to Christianity as the Religion of the Word (in the original Greek, Logos, reason, meaning, intelligence).

"From the beginning, Christianity has understood itself as the religion of the Logos, as the religion according to reason..It has always defined men, all men without distinction, as creatures and images of God, proclaiming for them..the same dignity. In this connection, the Enlightenment is of Christian origin and it is no accident that it was born precisely and exclusively in the realm of the Christian faith..It was and is the merit of the Enlightenment to have again proposed these original values of Christianity and of having given back to reason its own voice.. Today, this should be precisely philosophical strength, in so far as the problem is whether the world comes from the irrational, and reason is not other than a 'sub-product,' on occasion even harmful of its development -- or whether the world comes from reason, and is, as a consequence, its criterion and goal..In the so necessary dialogue between secularists and Catholics, we Christians must be very careful to remain faithful to this fundamental line: to live a faith that comes from the Logos, from creative reason, and that, because of this, is also open to all that is truly rational."

Benedict thus endorses creative reason, manifested in the crucified God as love, which contrasts with the strict rationality of the Enlightenment.

In an address to a conference of the Diocese of Rome held at St. John Lateran basilica on June 6, 2005, Benedict remarked on the issues of same-sex marriage and abortion:

"The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom that wrongly passes for true freedom of man..from here it becomes all the more clear how contrary it is to human love, to the profound vocation of man and woman, to systematically close their union to the gift of life, and even worse to suppress or tamper with the life that is born," he said.

This has drawn a sharp criticism by Catholic gay rights advocates like journalist Andrew Sullivan, who claim that Benedict is espousing a form of fundamentalist edict and is opposed to an outside questioning of his doctrines. Supporters of the Pope, argue that such an interpretation is wide of the mark as Benedict XVI is far from being a fundamentalist but simply reiterating the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church, based both on revelation and natural law, that homosexuality is an intrinsically disordered condition and homosexual genital acts - the acting out of this condition - is sinful. At the same time, the Church advocates pastoral care for those who suffer from this condition without compromising its moral teaching.

Curial appointments

Since their terms had ended on the death of the previous pope, Benedict reappointed after his election all former senior officers of the Roman Curia, though most only in a provisional manner. This assured an easy transition into a new pontificate. The principal political officer, the Cardinal Secretary of State (often likened to the pope's Prime Minister), remains Angelo Cardinal Sodano, an Italian. Benedict's only major new appointment was that of his successor as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On May 13, 2005, Benedict XVI appointed a non-Cardinal, William Joseph Levada, Archbishop of San Francisco in the United States of America. Though elements of the press have chosen to present Levada as a staunch conservative for his involvement with the drafting of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, his private views and public policies have not been entirely clear. Levada relinquished his see in San Francisco on August 17, 2005 and will be made a Cardinal in the consistory of 24 March 2006.

Beatifications

On May 9, 2005, Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his immediate predecessor, John Paul II. Normally the beatification process for a person does not begin until five years have passed since his or her death, but due to the popularity of John Paul II — devotees chanted "Santo subito!" meaning "Saint now!" during the late pontiff's funeral — Benedict XVI dispensed with the rule and styled the late pope with the title given to all those being scrutinized in the beatification process, Servant of God.

The first beatification under the new Pope was celebrated on May 14, 2005 by José Cardinal Saraiva Martins. The new Blesseds were Mother Marianne Cope and Mother Ascensión Nicol Goñi.

Unlike his predecessor, Benedict XVI delegated the beatification liturgical service to a Cardinal. On 29 September 2005 the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a announcing that henceforth beatifications would be celebrated by a representative of the Pope, usually the Prefect of that Congregation.

Canonizations

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his first Canonizations on October 23, 2005 in St. Peter's Square when he canonized Josef Bilczewski, Alberto Hurtado SJ and three others. The canonizations were part of a Mass that marked the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops and the Year of the Eucharist.

Revival of traditional papal clothing

Pope Benedict XVI has been using papal clothing which had previously fallen into disuse. During his installment address, he spoke at length about the significance of one item of vestiture: the pallium, and has reverted to an ancient form of the pallium worn by first millennium pontiffs. He has also worn the red satin mozzetta and its ermine-trimmed winter version that has not been seen since Pope Paul VI. His house cassock (his soutane or cassock with shoulder cape) also includes the upper half-sleeves discontinued for all other clerics by the authority of Paul VI's Motu Proprio "Pontificalis Domus".

Pope Benedict XVI has also continued the use of the red papal outdoor cloak. On December 21, 2005, the pope began wearing the camauro for his general audiences; the traditional papal hat had not been seen since the pontificate of John XXIII (1958 - 1963).

One item of clothing that Benedict has not worn to date is the papal tiara. Like his two immediate predecessors, Benedict chose not to be crowned with the tiara during his Inauguration Mass, nor has he worn it since that time. Other traditional items unused by the pope include the vestmental gloves, known as gauntlets.

Apostolic journeys

• Italy (May 29, 2005): Pope Benedict visited the Italian port of Bari and pledged to make the reconciliation with the Eastern Orthodox Church a "fundamental" commitment of his papacy. Benedict made the pledge in a city closely tied to the Orthodox Church. Bari, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, is considered a "bridge" between East and West and is home to the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, a fourth century saint and the prototype of "Santa Claus," who is one of the most popular saints in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The Pope referred to Bari as a "land of meeting and dialog" with the Orthodox Church in his homily at a Mass that closed a national religious conference. It was his first pilgrimage outside Rome since being elected the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19.

• Germany (August 18 to August 21, 2005): The Pope arrived in Germany on August 18 in order to participate in the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne. There he met with President Horst Köhler, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Leader of the Opposition Angela Merkel and others, and visited the famous Cologne Cathedral. The Pope visited the synagogue of the Jewish community in Cologne, which is the oldest Jewish community in the world north of the Alps. Benedict and his immediate predecessor John Paul II are the only two popes since St. Peter known to have visited a synagogue. He also spoke with representatives of the Muslim and Protestant communities of Cologne. On August 21, he led a Mass at Marienfeld with about one million youths present.

Future journeys

• Poland The bishops of Poland have announced that the Holy Father will visit May 25-May 28.

• Spain At the request of King Juan Carlos, Pope Benedict will visit Spain. He will visit Valencia, in ocassion of the World Encounter of Family, July 3-9, 2006.

• Germany He will also visit his native Germany in September, 2006.

• Turkey Despite the recent turmoil with the Muhammad cartoon controversy and the murder of Father Andrea Santoro, Pope Benedict will visit Turkey in November, 2006 at the request of Patriarch Bartholomew I.

• U.S. The Archbishop of Baltimore, Cardinal William Keeler, has officially announced that the Pope is likely to visit in the year 2007. He may visit in October but, others say, he may visit as early as May. If he should visit in October his visit will coincide with the General Assembly which the Pope is likely to address. Due to his commitment in visiting different parts of Europe he is unable to visit the United States in the year 2006. A similar request was given by the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal-Designate Sean O'Malley, but the Pope said he could not promise this. The request made by Cardinal-Designate O'Malley was given before the later announcement that he may visit the U.S.

• Latin America The Pope has plans to visit Latin America in the year 2007. He has plans to visit Aparecida, Brazil, in order to address the Latin American Bishops' Conference. This will add to his many visits to non-European countries in the year 2007.

Encyclicals

Pastoral Activities

On 8 January 2006 Pope Benedict continued the tradition of his predecessor John Paul II and baptised several infants in the Sistine Chapel representing his pastoral role as Bishop of Rome.

Titles

The folowing are official titles of the Pope: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, In Latin- Benedictus PP. XVI, Bishop of Rome. However his formal title is "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God." This full title is however rarely used. Starting from 1870, "Patriarch of the West" was also one of the pope's formal titles, but on 1 March, 2006 the Vatican announced that it would no longer be used.

The title "Patriarch of the West," traditionally appeared in that list of titles before "Primate of Italy," has rarely been employed since the East-West Schism of 1054. From the Orthodox perspective, authority in the Church could be traced to the five original patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. However, some Catholic theologians have argued that the term "Patriarch of the West" has no clear historical or theological basis and was introduced into papal court in 1870, at the time of the First Vatican Council. Pope Benedict chose to remove the title at a time when discussions with the Orthodox churches have centered on the issue of papal primacy. Pope John Paul II reportedly considered dropping the title during his own pontificate had also emphasised this service to the universal Church.

See also

• Georg Gänswein - private secretary
• Dominus Iesus - document written by Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• The Message of Fatima - document on the purported release of the Third Secret of Fatima
• Deus Caritas Est - first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI
• Pope Benedict - list of other popes and antipopes using the name
• Prophecy of the Popes - document attributed to Saint Malachy
• Theology of Pope Benedict XVI - philosophical and theological beliefs of Pope Benedict XVI
• Works of Pope Benedict XVI - literature written by Pope Benedict XVI

Books and theological writings

Main article (with original titles and English translations): Works of Pope Benedict XVI

• Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today. 1996.
• Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life. Dogmatic Theology series. Michael Waldstein, Trans. 1988.
• God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald. 2002.
• God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life. 2003.
• In the Beginning….: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall. 1995.
• Introduction to Christianity. 1968, new edition 2000.
• Journey to Easter. (Forthcoming)
• Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, The Church, and the World. 1999.
• Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977. 1998.
• Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church. 1985.
• Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium, An Interview With Peter Seewald. 1997.
• Spirit of the Liturgy. 2000.
• Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions. 2004.
• Values in a Time of Upheaval. 2005

References

Notes

1.   "," The History Place.
2.   Daniel J Wakin, "," New York Times, April 24, 2005 (accessed June 8, 2005)
3.   , The Sunday Times, (London) May 1, 2005.
4.   Jamie Doward, "," The Guardian, April 24, 2005.
5.   , The Vatican, April 30, 2001.
6.   , The Vatican, May 18, 2001.
7.   Unofficial translation of Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela by the USCCB and a translation of the Norms by Gregory Ingels, both revised by Joseph R. Punderson and Charles J. Scicluna. The new norms (like the American norms) consider a minor to be anyone under the age of 18—a wider definition than in the Code of Canon Law, where minors are below the age of 16.
8.   Jamie Doward, "," The Guardian, April 24, 2005.
9.   "", Catholic News Service, December 17, 2001.
10.   Acta Apostolicae Sedis 93 (2001): 737–39, 785–88.
11.   , The Vatican.
12.   , April 29, 2005 update to Much Ado About Nothing by Dr Edward Peters, JCD, JD
13.   "," Zenit News Agency, December 3, 2002.
14.   , The Vatican.
15.   See note 8 above.
16.   See note 8 above.
17.   Justin Sparks, and John Follain, "," The Australian, April 18, 2005.
18.  
19.   "", North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, October 25, 2003.
20.   "," World Jewish Congress, April 19, 2005.
21.   "," Phayul.com, April 20, 2005; ," english.chosun.com, April 20, 2005.
22.   Jim Bencivenga, "," Christian Science Monitor, April 22, 2005.
23.   Quote from a CNN Interview, April 25, 2005.
24.   , The Vatican, April 27, 2005.
25.   , The Vatican.
26.   Nicole Winfield, "," The Guardian, June 6, 2005.

Literature

• Allen, John L.: Cardinal Ratzinger: the Vatican's enforcer of the faith. – New York: Continuum, 2000
• Nichols OP, Aidan: Theology of Joseph Ratzinger. – Edinburgh; T&T Clark, 1988
• Wagner, Karl: Kardinal Ratzinger: der Erzbischof in München und Freising in Wort und Bild. – München : Pfeiffer, 1977
• Pater Prior Maximilian Heim: Joseph Ratzinger - Kirchliche Existenz und existenzielle Theologie unter dem Anspruch von Lumen gentium (diss.).
• Herrmann, Horst: Benedikt XVI. Der neue Papst aus Deutschland. – Berlin 2005

Biographies

• Allen, John L. The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church. NY: Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0385513208.
• Allen, John L. Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0826417868. This is a reprint of Allen's 2000 book Cardinal Ratzinger: the Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, reprinted without Allen's permission.
• Bardazzi, Marco. In the Vineyard of the Lord : The Life, Faith, and Teachings of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. New York: Rizzoli International, 2005. ISBN 0847828018
• Bunson, Matthew. We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor. ISBN 1592761801.
• Tobin, Greg. Holy Father : Pope Benedict XVI: Pontiff for a New Era. Sterling, 2005. ISBN 1402731728.

Titles

The folowing are offcial titles of the Pope.His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, In Latin- Benedictus PP. XVI, Bishop of Rome,Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Province, Sovereign of Vatican City and Servant of the Servants of God

External links and references

Official

• – encyclical God is Love (in English)
• – Vatican web site
• – Vatican web site about the Holy Father Benedict XVI
• Vatican web page about election
• magazine, founded by Ratzinger and others. Contains recent articles by him.
• Official email address: (see )

Biographical

• – The National Catholic Reporter's 1999 Cover Story on the history of then Cardinal Ratzinger
• Emerging Papacy: 'A Service to Joy' by Robert Mickens

The first days of his papacy

• from Sunday 24th April

The Pope and the Second Vatican Council

General

• (see also )
• (in Italian)
• (in Spanish)
• (in German)
• (in German)
• (in Italian)
• Unofficial Pope Benedict XVI web site (in Russian)

Criticism of the Pope

• '' by Andrew Sullivan (Time Magazine, April 24, 2005)

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