Benedict XVI

[[Image:Ratzinger.jpg|thumb|165px|
Pope [[Krampus]]
 "Good, good. Let the hate flow through you."]]{{christianity}}{{cquote|The man who puts the '[[Asshole|athol]]' in [[Catholic|C'''athol'''ic]], pope Benedict XVI!|||[[Penn Jillette]], ''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]]''<ref>''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]]'', ''The Vatican'' (S07E10)</ref>}}

'''Benedict XVI''' (born as '''Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger''') {{lived|1927|2022}}, formerly known as "Cardinal Panzer",{{onion}} was the 
[[Fun:Star Wars|Emperor]]
 [[pope|Pontiff]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] from 2005-2013, and the first [[German]] Pope in a loooong time.<ref>Certainly the first German pope since the emergence of a modern German nation-state.</ref>

The only notable thing about his papacy was wearing red shoes (which he later ditched). What a game-changer.<ref>Dewey, Caitlin, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/02/26/the-story-of-pope-benedicts-infamous-red-shoes-which-he-will-give-up/ "The story of Pope Benedict's controversial red shoes, which he will give up"], WaPo 2.26.13.</ref>

He resigned from the Papacy at the end of February 2013. Rumours circulated that he did so because he feared scandal.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/21/pope-retired-amid-gay-bishop-blackmail-inquiry Guardian]</ref>  He became the first pope in almost 600 years to step down from his position.<ref>
At least one Catholic [[theology|theologian]], Enrico Maria Radaelli, argued that the pope cannot resign and that the election of a successor would be invalid. (See [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21616503 "Benedict XVI resignation: The two-pope problem"], BBC News, 28 February 2013.)
</ref>

==Before the papacy==
Before becoming the Vicar of [[Jesus Christ]], he was known as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the modern name for the same Office in the Curia which was once known as the [[Inquisition#The_Roman_Inquisition|Roman Inquisition]]. Cardinal Ratzinger was well-known as a fanatic about doctrinal orthodoxy, putting him in a league with such [[apologist]] superstars as [[Josh McDowell]] and R.C. Sproul. Ratzinger was so ideologically [[conservative]] that he earned the nickname Doctor No. That, and a (mandatory) stint as a young child in the [[Hitler]] Youth, also led many to refer to him as the [[Nazism|Nazi]] Pope or the Panzer Pope. However, Ratzinger was too young to be fully responsible for being in Nazi uniform, not to mention that his family was vehemently anti-Nazi, especially his father, Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., who was a police officer. Unsurprisingly, this led to his family being harassed and demoted by the Nazis, though when the senior Ratzinger told the SS men who took shelter at their house that he and his family wanted absolutely nothing to do with [[Hitler]]'s [[bullshit]], they were apparently met with no reprisal at all, as if a guardian angel protected them. (He has promoted [[Jewish]]-[[Christian]] reconciliation by writing a book that includes a refutation of [[Passion Play|Christ-killer]] myths.)

==Protector of paedophiles== 
[[File:Pope Benedict XVI in Zagreb 04.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Pope Benedict touches a child.]]
{{main|Child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church}}
{{cquote|[[Children]] are the greatest treasure and the future of every society: truly caring for them means recognising our responsibility to teach, defend and live by the moral virtues which are the key to human fulfilment.|||Pope Benedict in 2012. Awkward.<ref>[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/march/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20120309_us-bishops_en.html Address to the Bishops of the United States of America, 9 March 2012]</ref>}}

As early as January 1980, Ratzinger, at the time an Archbishop, chaired a meeting discussing Fr. Peter Hullermann who had forced [[oral sex]] onto an 11-year-old and [[child sexual abuse|abused three other children]]. Hullermann escaped being reported to the [[police]] and, with Ratzinger’s formal approval, Hullermann was moved to a new diocese. Advice from Hullermann’s doctor that he should be supervised closely and kept away from children was flouted.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1973914,00.html?xid=rss-topstories Father H's Story: Germany's Pedophile Priest Scandal], ''Time''</ref> Hullermann reoffended any number of times during twenty odd years after that, but was only once convicted. During the 1990s, Ratzinger’s department at the [[Vatican]] and the diocese apparently developed a system of asking abusive [[priest]]s to repent without reporting them to the police. Reinhart Marx helped [[Pope John Paul II]] [[cover up]] a scandal involving a "priest H" and became a [[Cardinal]] at an unusually early age.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,731683,00.html Archbishop Ratzinger Failed to Deal with Suspected Pedophile Priest], ''Der Spiegel''</ref>

[[File:Pope Benedict XVI 1.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Palpatine on his throne.]]

Ratzinger knew about the deviant predatory [[sex]], including [[incest|raping his own children]], that {{wpl|Sexual scandal of Father Marcial Maciel|Fr. Marcial Maciel}} was doing in [[Mexico]], but dragged his feet over acting. After becoming pope, Benedict did not defrock this monster or hand him over to the police. Instead, Marciel was ordered to live a quiet life in the [[USA]] and avoided bad publicity.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-pope-can-quit-but-it-wont-erase-his-complicity-in-his-churchs-crimes-8490875.html The Pope can quit but it won't erase his complicity in his Church’s crimes], ''The Independent''</ref> 

In March 2010, Benedict XVI was accused of protecting another paedophile priest, Fr. Lawrence C. Murphy, who is alleged to have molested around 200 [[disability|deaf]] children in his care at St. John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, [[Wisconsin]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8587082.stm Pope accused of failing to act on sex abuse case], BBC News</ref> Benedict was working at the time for the Vatican investigating, among other matters, child abuse by priests. An archbishop wrote to Benedict's office complaining of the actions of Murphy, and yet no action was initially taken.
[[File:NO VAT 2007 Roma.jpg|thumb|left|175px|"If Ratzinger really wants to play inquisitor that much, why doesn't he go deal with his pedophile priests?"]]

When a canonical trial was finally scheduled, Murphy wrote to Benedict demanding the trial be cancelled, a request which was granted despite strong objections from another archbishop. Three archbishops complained about Murphy, but the priest was protected from the police and moved to a new parish where he had further access to children.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/world/europe/25vatican.html Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys], ''The New York Times''</ref>

In 2001, Benedict XVI, then the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had a letter sent to [[bishop]]s worldwide, advising them to keep allegations of child sex abuse within the church. At the time Benedict's group had assumed responsibility for the investigation of allegations of sexual abuse, to which their approach appeared to be trying to deal with such problems without the need to involve the [[legal]] authorities. The letter stated that the church had jurisdiction over such matters, and that information relating to abuse must be kept confidential until 10 years after the victims reach adulthood. Critics commented that the directives were designed to obstruct justice.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection Pope 'obstructed' sex abuse inquiry], ''The Guardian''</ref>

Benedict appeared to have [[Willful ignorance|forgotten this letter]] when he blamed the [[Irish]] Catholic Church for its abuse issues, and it certainly slipped his mind when he blamed church sex abuse scandals on increasing [[secularism]] within society.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/21/pope-ireland-letter-paedophile-priests Pope's blame-shifting letter in response to Catholic sexual abuse receives heated responses], ''The Guardian''</ref> Incidentally, abuse has been going on in the Roman Catholic Church since ''well before'' society became as secular as it is now, so nice little [[handwave]] you've got going there.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-urged-to-apologise-for-abuse-coverup-1923979.html Pope urged to apologise for abuse cover-up], ''The Independent''</ref> In the 19th century, there was at least one cover-up that was similar to what happened more recently.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315902/Nun-Mary-MacKillop-exposed-paedophile-priest-Australias-RC-saint.html "Nun who exposed paedophile priest to become Australia's first Roman Catholic saint" (updated 28 September 2010)]</ref> In Benedict's defence, he was in his late seventies (now over 80) and [[moral]]ly bankrupt. Secularism may have helped create an environment where people are not as much in awe of the Church (any church) as previously and some victims are prepared to speak out.

In 2011, there was an attempt to make Benedict XVI answer for his far reaching and continuing failure to protect children before the International Criminal Court.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/world/europe/14vatican.html Abuse Victims Ask Court to Prosecute the Vatican], ''The New York Times''</ref>

One case suggesting ongoing abuse is that of Megan Petersen of [[Minnesota]], who alleges she was [[rape]]d repeatedly as a child and disturbingly adds that the culprit still has access to children and vulnerable adults.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/13/pope-crimes-humanity-victims-abuse Pope accused of crimes against humanity by victims of sex abuse], ''The Guardian''</ref>  Benedict lived out his retirement within the Vatican where it was harder for law enforcement to reach him.

===How deep did it go?===
Papal zeal in protecting paedophiles has fueled rumors about Benedict's own behaviour,<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cardinal-keith-obrien-departs-with-an-apology-but-no-admission-as-pope-forces-him-out-over-allegations-of--inappropriate-behaviour-8509612.html Cardinal Keith O'Brien departs with an apology but no admission as Pope forces him out over allegations of inappropriate behaviour], ''The Independent''</ref> though no clear [[evidence]] has emerged that the retired pope personally did more than protect perpetrators.

==Positions on issues==
[[File:20080416 Benedict XVI George W Bush birthday.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Benedict with [[George W. Bush]] in the White House, 2008.]]
===Love versus doctrinal purity===
While still strongly [[conservative]], he was more noted for his emphasis on the love that the church should show to the world than for his insistence on [[Dogma|doctrinal purity]]. In many cases, he actually demonstrated leniency for [[heterodox]] priests in [[Spain]] and [[Latin America]]. Towards the end of his tenure, however, the insistence on doctrinal purity came back into focus, especially with regards to [[homosexuality]].

Benedict was also somewhat critical of [[Silvio Berlusconi]]'s recent discriminatory actions towards [[Roma]]<ref>[http://www.vaticans.org/index.php?/archives/1233-Pope-Benedict-XVI-urged-to-overcome-all-forms-of-racial-intolerance.html Pope Benedict XVI urged to overcome all forms of racial intolerance]</ref> - more so than most of Berlusconi's political opponents, anyway.

===[[Limbo]]===
[[File:Popemobil Mai 2007.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Benedict in the Popemobile.]]
In 2007 Pope Benedict decided that [[Limbo]] was never anything but a theory,<ref> Catholic News Service (April 20, 2007). "Vatican commission: Limbo reflects 'restrictive view of salvation'"</ref> one which unlike the [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric model]] of the [[Solar System]] has never been officially condemned or warranted executions, so presumably all the unbaptized babies and those who lived before the time of Jesus are being [[torture]]d eternally in [[Hell]] for not being born into the right set of circumstances to receive salvation.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549439/The-Pope-ends-state-of-limbo-after-800-years.html Pope Benny closes Limbo]</ref> The Pope's basis for discontinuing the Catholic Church's extended universe cosmology was that limbo {{wpl|Star Wars canon|was only ever unofficial B canon and not official A canon,}} and hasn't been included in the catechism since the 1990s.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5406552.stm How can limbo just be abolished?]</ref> However previous non-canonical sermons referencing limbo will still be reprinted under the Catholic Church: Legends label.

===Evolution===
Pope Benedict XVI, before becoming Pope, wrote a defense of [[theistic evolution]] examining the insufficiency of "selection and mutation." [[Humans]], he insisted, are "''not the products of chance and error,''" and "''the universe is not the product of darkness and unreason; it comes from intelligence, freedom, and from the beauty that is identical with love.''" Obviously, this point of view is not supported by [[science]]. 

Neither will any evolutionary scientist claim that humans are a product of chance and error.

===Birth control===
Benedict's formal position was that [[birth control]] in any form is unacceptable to the church, even to prevent the transfer of [[AIDS]] in countries where it is a daily [[reality]] for a large segment of the population.  He publicly stated if a [[prostitute]] is already sinning by being a prostitute, he or she should not compound the sin by using a [[condom]].

When discussing Angola, and the rise of "unspeakable sexual violence" (the Pope's words), he used his time there to bash [[abortion]] and to bash those advocates who suggest that women facing such horrors ought to have the legal option of abortion so that they were not carrying a rapist's child.  He said of these raped women: "[[Fractal wrongness|How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive health]]!"

==2005 visit to a German synagogue==
During his 2005 address to the Synagogue of Cologne, he blamed the holocaust on Nazi Germany's embrace of [[neo-paganism]] (i.e., the ''[[Völkisch movement]]''), but laid none of the blame on Christian anti-semitism in Germany or with specific members of the Catholic Church who were allied with the Nazis.<ref name=cologne>[https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2005/august/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20050819_cologne-synagogue.html Apostolic Journey To Cologne On The Occasion Of The XX World Youth Day: Visit To The Synagogue Of Cologne. Address Of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI] (19 August 2005) ''La Santa Sede''.</ref><ref>''Blood and Faith: Christianity in American White Nationalism'' by Damon T. Berry (2017) Syracuse University Press. ISBN 081563532X. Chapter 5.</ref>
{{cquote|And in the 20<sup>th</sup> century, in the darkest period of German and European history, an insane racist ideology, born of neo-paganism, gave rise to the attempt, planned and systematically carried out by the regime, to exterminate European Jewry. The result has passed into history as the ''Shoah''.|||Pope Benedict XVI<ref name=cologne/>}}

==2010 visit to the UK==
{{main|Papal visit to the UK 2010}}
The Pope's 2010 visit to the [[UK]] was the subject of numerous controversies. These included the cost to the [[tax]]payer for hosting and security, the background of the abuse scandal, a cardinal describing the UK as a [[Third World]] country because of its [[multiculturalism]], and the Pope's repeated attacks on "extreme" [[atheism]] and secularism.

==Atheism and the Nazis==
In a 2010 speech, Benedict appeared to blame Nazism on atheism, claiming that the Nazis wanted to remove God from society and furthermore,
{{cquote|As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11332515</ref>}}

These statements were especially galling to hear from someone who had been in the Hitler Youth.  While by all accounts that was simply because that was what you had to do then and he himself was no Nazi, he certainly had been in a position to know what Nazism was about and would have known better than to smear a group of people that had nothing to do with it.

==Views on Freemasonry==
Prior to his ascension to the papacy, the Pope wrote in a letter entitled {{wpl|Declaration on Masonic Associations}} that those who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion, though its standing under Canon law is unclear.  (Freemasons no doubt responded with the "jacking off" hand gesture.)

Ironically enough, the Pope did express his enthusiasm for {{wpl|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart||,}} who not only was an ardent [[Freemason]], but also composed music for lodges and incorporated Masonic symbolism in his works, most notably {{wpl|The Magic Flute|''The Magic Flute''|.}} Others, however, defend that the Freemasonry back then was different compared to what it is now in the present day, and that Mozart himself saw no conflict between his Catholic faith and being a Master Mason, not to mention that a number of clergy at the time were also Masons.<ref>[https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628131008/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_38_42/ai_n26705248/ Freer, Mark Pope Benedict XVI, Mozart and the Quest of Beauty, Catholic Education Research Center.] Retrieved 19 October 2010.</ref>

==See also==
{{fun|Benedict XVI resignation}}
*[[Pope Francis]], his successor

==External links==
*[[Tim Minchin]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTIorwtJbhE& Pope Song] ([[NSFW]]!)

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Catholicism]]
[[Category:Christian clergy]]
[[Category:Fundamentalists]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Religious leaders]]

Categories: Catholicism, Christian clergy, Fundamentalists, Homophobes, Popes, Religious leaders