Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, German: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈʔaːlɔɪ̯s ˈʁat͡sɪŋɐ]; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28

Benedict XVI in 2019. Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was elected Pope Benedict XVI on 19 April 2005, succeeding John Paul II, who died on 2 April 2005. He stepped down as pope at 20:00 on 28 February 2013, in the first papal renunciation in almost 600 years since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, [1] and the first to voluntarily step down ...

Jan 30, 2025 · Benedict XVI was bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013. His papacy faced several challenges, including the effects of the scandal beginning in the late 1990s surrounding the church’s handling of sexual abuse by priests. He became the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

Dec 31, 2022 · Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was a reluctant pope who never wanted to be pontiff. So it should have come as little surprise that with a few words uttered in Latin on a Vatican holiday in 2013, Benedict ended it all.

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...

The Vatican says Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has died. He was 95. Benedict was the first pope in 600 years to resign. Benedict had become increasingly frail during his almost 10 years of retirement.

Apr 3, 2014 · In February 2013, Benedict XVI shocked Catholic leadership and faithful alike by resigning from his position as pope, the first to do so in six centuries. He lived in a monastery on Vatican...

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...

Find information on the life and pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, including his speeches, letters, documents, travels, and messages.

Apr 19, 2005 · On 25 November 1981 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He also became President of the Biblical Commission and of the Pontifical International Theological Commission.