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Pope
Benedict XVI
Name
Josef Ratzinger
Dates
Date of Birth: April 16, 1927, in
Germany
Ordained priest: June 29, 1951
Consecrated Abp of Munich and Freising:
March 25, 1977
Episcopal Ordination: May 28, 1977
Created Cardinal: June 27, 1977
Elected Pope: April 19, 2005
Papal facts
265th Pope
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected
as Pope on Apr. 19, 2005 - the new
head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman
Catholics.
Joseph Ratzinger was born April 16,
1927, in Germany. He was ordained
a priest June 29, 1951.
He spent his adolescent years in Traunstein,
and was called into the auxiliary
anti-aircraft service in the last
months of World War II. From 1946
to 1951, the year in which he was
ordained a priest and began to teach,
he studied philosophy and theology
at the University of Munich and at
the higher school in Freising.
In 1953 he obtained a doctorate in
theology. Four years later, he qualified
as a university teacher. He then taught
dogma and fundamental theology at
the higher school of philosophy and
theology of Freising, then in Bonn
from 1959 to 1969, Muenster from 1963
to 1966, Tuebinga from 1966 to 1969.
From 1969, he was a professor of dogmatic
theology and of the history of dogma
at the University of Regensburg and
vice president of the same university.
In 1962 he became a consultor at the
Second Vatican Council. In March 1977,
Pope Paul VI elected him archbishop
of Munich and Freising and on May
28, 1977, he was ordained a bishop
-- the first diocesan priest after
80 years to take over the pastoral
ministry of this large Bavarian diocese.
He was elevated to cardinal in June
1977. In November 1981 he was named
prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith and president
of the Biblical Commission and of
the Pontifical International Theological
Commission.
He was elected vice dean of the College
of Cardinals in November 1998. In
November 2002, the Pope approved his
election, by the order of cardinal
bishops, as dean of the College of
Cardinals.
Cardinal Ratzinger was president of
the Commission for the Preparation
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
and after six years of work he presented
the new catechism to the Holy Father
in 1992.
A towering intellectual, a deeply
holy man, a kind hearted and strong
in his beliefs, he has been one of
the closest confidants of Pope John
Paul II.
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