Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (; ; , born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on 16 April 1927) is Pope Emeritus of the Catholic Church. He served as the 265th Pope from 2005 to 2013. In that position, he was both the leader of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Vatican City State. Benedict was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave after the death of Pope John Paul II. He celebrated his papal inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005. He took possession of his cathedral, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, on 7 May 2005.

On 11 February 2013, Benedict announced his resignation in a speech in Latin before the cardinals. His reason was a "lack of strength of mind and body" because of his old age. His resignation became effective on 28 February 2013. He was the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. He was the first to resign by choice since Pope Celestine V in 1294. As Pope Emeritus, Benedict retains the style of His Holiness, and the title of Pope. He will continue to dress in the papal colour of white. He was succeeded by Pope Francis on 13 March 2013. He moved into the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae monastery for his retirement on 2 May 2013. In September 2020, Benedict XVI became the longest-lived pope at aged 93.

Priest
Ratzinger was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1951.  He was a professor at several German universities, including the University of Bonn and the University of Münster.  He also taught at the University of Tübingen. and the University of Regensburg.

Cardinal
In 1977, Ratzinger was named by Pope Paul VI as a Cardinal and the Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

Cardinal Ratzinger was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
He became Dean of the College of Cardinals. He was a close friend of Pope John Paul II.

In January 2022 a report written by a German law firm found that Benedict XVI had failed to act over four cases of child abuse when he was in charge as Archbishop of Munich. He has denied these reports.

Pope
In 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope at the age of 78. At the conclave, "it was, if not Ratzinger, who?  And as they came to know him, the question became, why not Ratzinger?"  He chose to be called Benedict XVI.

On 11 February 2013, the pope announced that he would abdicate or resign on 28 February 2013: "I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry." The original declaration was made in Latin. He is the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. He decided to resign then retired on February 28, 2013 in order to take care of his health condition.

Selected works
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Joseph Ratzinger, OCLC/WorldCat includes roughly 360+ works in 520+ publications in 20 languages as well as library holdings.
 Introduction to Christianity (1968)
 Einführung in das Christentum: Vorlesungen über das Apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis (1968)
 Das neue Volk Gottes: Entwürfe zur Ekklesiologie (1969)
 Der Gott Jesu Christi: Betrachtungen über den Dreieinigen Gott (1976)
 Eschatologie : Tod und ewiges Leben (1977)
 Principles of Catholic theology: building stones for a fundamental theology (1985)
 Politik und Erlösung: zum Verhältnis von Glaube, Rationalität und Irrationalem in der sogenannten Theologie der Befreiung (1986)

As Pope, OCLC/WorldCat identifies 1,400+ works in 2,300+ publications in 33 languages and 55,000+ library holdings.
 Jesus of Nazareth: from the baptism in the Jordan to the transfiguration (2007)
 Without roots: the West, relativism, Christianity, Islam (2006)

Related pages
 Abdication
 Georg Ratzinger (brother)

References

Other websites 

  Vatican webpage,  Benedict XVI biography
 Pope Benedict XVI Hats 
  Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

1927 births
Living people
German popes
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
People from Bavaria