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Pope Benedict XVI
Installed	April 19, 2005
Term ended	Incumbent
Predecessor	Pope John Paul II
Successor	Incumbent
Personal details
Born	Joseph Alois Ratzinger April 16, 1927

Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI), born Joseph Alois Ratzinger (pronounce: Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger (audio problems)) on April 16, Holy Saturday, 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany, was elected the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005. By virtue of his office, he is not only Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, but also the Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is styled either as His Holiness or the Holy Father. He was formally installed during the Mass of Papal Installation on April 24, 2005, although he officially attained the complete papal authority when he accepted his election in the conclave.

Overview

Benedict was elected at the age of 78, the oldest man since Clement XII (elected 1730) at the start of his papacy, and is the eighth German pontiff, the first since Adrian VI (1522–1523). The first German pope was Gregory V (996–999). The last Benedict, Benedict XV, was an Italian who served as pontiff from 1914 to 1922 and reigned during World War I.

Ratzinger had a distinguished career as a university theologian before he became Archbishop of Munich, and he was subsequently made a Cardinal by Pope Paul VI 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 made a Cardinal Bishop of Title of episcopal see of the Suburbicarian Church of Velletri-Segni on April 5, 1993. In 1998, he was made Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals; later, on November 30,2002, he became Dean. This last position also resulted in his becoming Cardinal Bishop of the Suburbicarian Church of Ostia, La Candelaria.

He was already one of the most influential men in the Vatican and a close associate of the late John Paul II before he became pope. He also presided over the funeral of John Paul II and the 2005 conclave that elected him. He was the public face of the church in much of the sede vacante, although he ranked below the Cardinal Camerlengo in both rank and authority during that time.

Benedict speaks several languages, including German, Spanish, Italian, English, and Latin. He is also fluent in French and has been an associate member of the French Académie des sciences morales et politiques since 1992.

Benedict XVI's views appear to be very similar to those of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. He has opposed changing the traditional Catholic doctrines on marriage, family, and homosexuality. His stance, in accordance with Catholic doctrine, should not be confused with conservatism in an American political sense. Note, for instance, his opposition to positions held by some American conservatives, e.g. on the death penalty and preemptive war and his emphasis on social justice and opposition to the excesses of capitalism and consumerism.

Early life

Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, at 11 Schulstrasse, his parents' home in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a police officer, and his wife, Maria Ratzinger (née Riger), whose family were from South Tyrol. His father served in both the Bavarian State Police (Landespolizei) and the national Regular Police (Ordnungspolizei) before retiring in 1937 to the town of Traunstein. The Sunday Times of London described the elder Ratzinger as "an anti-Nazi whose attempts to rein in Hitler’s Brown Shirts forced the family to move several times." . According to the International Herald Tribune, these relocations were directly related to Joseph Ratzinger, Sr.'s continued resistance to Nazism, which resulted in demotions and transfers. "Our father was a bitter enemy of Nazism because he believed it was in conflict with our faith," the pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger, told the New York Times .

His brother, Georg, who also became a priest as well as a musician and medievalist, is still living. His sister, Maria Ratzinger, who never married, managed her brother Joseph's household until her death in 1991. Their grand uncle Georg Ratzinger was a priest and member of the Reichstag, the German Parliament.

According to his cousin Erika Kopp, Ratzinger had no desire from childhood to be anything other than a priest. When he was 15, she says, he announced that he was going to be a bishop, whereupon she playfully remarked, 'And why not Pope?' . An even earlier incident occurred in 1932, when Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber, the archbishop of Munich, visited the small town in which the Ratzinger family lived, arriving in a black limousine. The future pope, then five years old, was part of a group of children who presented the cardinal with flowers, and later that day he announced he wanted to be a cardinal, too. "It wasn't so much the car, since we weren't technically minded," Georg Ratzinger told a reporter from the New York Times. "It was the way the cardinal looked, his bearing, and the garments he was wearing that made such an impression on him."

When Ratzinger turned 14 in 1941, he joined the Hitler Youth, membership in which was legally required from 1938 until the end of the Third Reich in 1945. According to National Catholic Reporter correspondent and biographer John Allen, Ratzinger was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings. Ratzinger has mentioned that a Nazi mathematics professor arranged reduced tuition payments for him at seminary. This normally required documentation of attendance at Hitler Youth activities -- however, according to Ratzinger, his professor arranged that the young seminary student did not need to attend those gatherings to receive a scholarship.

Military service

In 1943, when he was 16, Ratzinger was drafted with many of his classmates into the FlaK (anti-aircraft artillery corps). They were posted first to Ludwigsfeld, north of Munich, as part of a detachment responsible for guarding a BMW aircraft engine plant. Next they were sent to Unterföhring, northwest of Munich, and briefly to Innsbruck. From Innsbruck their unit went to Gilching to protect the jet fighter base and to attack Allied bombers as they massed to begin their runs towards Munich. At Gilching, Ratzinger served in telephone communications.

On September 10, 1944, his class was released from the Corps. Returning home, Ratzinger had already received a new draft notice for the Reichsarbeitsdienst. He was posted to the Hungarian border area of Austria which had been annexed by Germany in the Anschluss of 1938. Here he was trained in the "cult of the spade" and upon the surrender of Hungary to Russia was put to work setting up anti-tank defences in preparation for the expected Red Army offensive. On November 20, 1944, his unit was released from service.

Ratzinger again returned home. After three weeks passed, he was drafted into the army at Munich and assigned to the infantry barracks in the center of Traunstein, the city near which his family lived. After basic infantry training, his unit was sent to various posts around the city. They were never sent to the front.

In late April or early May, days or weeks before the German surrender, Ratzinger deserted. Desertion was widespread during the last weeks of the war, even though punishable by death; executions, frequently extrajudicial, continued to the end. In the days preceding imminent German defeat, however, many soldiers deserted. Diminished morale and the greatly diminished risk of prosecution from a preoccupied and disorganized German military, also contributed to widespread desertion. Ratzinger left the city of Traunstein and returned to his nearby village. "I used a little-known back road hoping to get through unmolested. But, as I walked out of a railroad underpass, two soldiers were standing at their posts, and for a moment the situation was extremely critical for me. Thank God that they, too, had had their fill of war and did not want to become murderers." They used the excuse of his arm being in a sling to let him go home.

Soon after, two SS members were given shelter at the Ratzinger family's house, and they began to make enquiries about the presence there of a young man of military age. Ratzinger's father made clear to them his ire against Hitler, and the two disappeared the next day without taking any action. Cardinal Ratzinger later stated, "A special angel seemed to be guarding us." When the Americans arrived in the village, "I was identified as a soldier, had to put back on the uniform I had already abandoned, had to raise my hands and join the steadily growing throng of war prisoners whom they were lining up on our meadow. It especially cut my good mother's heart to see her boy and the rest of the defeated army standing there, exposed to an uncertain fate..."

Ratzinger was briefly interned in a prisoner of war camp near Ulm and was released on June 19, 1945. He and another young man began to walk the 120 km (75 miles) home but got a lift to Traunstein in a milk truck. The family was reunited when his brother, Georg, returned after being released from a prisoner of war camp in Italy.

Education

After he was repatriated in 1946, he and his brother entered a Catholic seminary in Freising, and then studied at the Herzogliches Georgianum of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. According to an interview with Peter Seewald, he and his fellow students were particularly influenced by the works of Gertrud von le Fort, Ernst Wiechert, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Elisabeth Langgässer, Theodor Steinbüchel, Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers. The young Ratzinger saw the last three in particular as a break with the dominance of Neo-Kantianism, with the key work being Steinbüchel's Die Wende des Denkens (The Change in Thinking). By the end of his studies he was drawn more to the active Saint Augustine than to Thomas Aquinas, and among the scholastics he was more interested in Saint Bonaventure.

On June 29, 1951, he and his brother were ordained by Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich. His dissertation (1953) was on Saint Augustine, entitled "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church", and his Habilitationsschrift (a dissertation which serves as qualification for a professorship) was on Saint Bonaventure. It was completed in 1957 and he became a professor of Freising college in 1958.

Church career

Early church career

Ratzinger was a professor at the University of Bonn from 1959 until 1963, when he moved to the University of Münster. 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 took a chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen, where he was a colleague of Hans Küng but was confirmed in his orthodox views by the liberal atmosphere of Tübingen and the Marxist leanings of the student movement of the 1960s. This was radicalised in Germany in 1967 and 1968 following the shooting of student Benno Ohnesorg at a demonstration (in June 1967) and an assassination attempt on student leader Rudi Dutschke (April 1968), culminating in a series of disturbances in April and May 1968 in which two journalists died in Munich in unexplained circumstances, and 400 people were injured. Ratzinger came increasingly to see these and associated developments (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 in the theological academy. In 1969 he returned to Bavaria, to the University of Regensburg.

Archbishop and cardinal

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 one of the most important journals of Catholic thought. He remains one of the journal's most prolific contributors.

In March 1977 Ratzinger was named archbishop of Munich and Freising. According to his autobiography, Milestones, he took as his episcopal motto Cooperatores Veritatis, co-workers of the Truth, from 3 John 8.

In the consistory of June 1977 he was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. At 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 and thus eligible to participate in that conclave.

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 of the Inquisition, which was renamed in 1908 by Pope Pius X. He resigned the Munich archdiocese in early 1982. Already a cardinal priest, he was raised to the dignity of cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni in 1993. He became vice-dean of the College of Cardinals in 1998, and dean in 2002. In office, Ratzinger usually took traditional views on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and inter-religious dialogue.

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 Pontiff. 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.

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 the same age 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." (Angelo Roncalli was 76, not 78.)

Cardinal Ratzinger 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." After the death of John Paul II on April 2, 2005 Ratzinger ceased functioning as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As he is now pope, it will be up to him to decide who will follow him in the role of prefect.

In April 2005, he was identified as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine.

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, a German pope and saint.

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 in Latin. He announced the decision with the words:

Fratelli e sorelle carissimi; queridísimos hermanos y hermanas; bien chers frères et sœurs; liebe Brüder und Schwestern; dear brothers and sisters:

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum.

Habemus Papam:

Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum,

Dominum Iosephum

Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Ratzinger

qui sibi nomen imposuit Benedicti Decimi Sexti

Which translates to:

Dear brothers and sisters,

I announce to you a great joy:

We have a Pope!

The most Eminent and Reverend Lord,

the Lord Joseph

Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Ratzinger,

who has taken to himself the name of Benedict the Sixteenth.

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

Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple, 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.

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

He then gave the blessing to the people.

Papacy

Choice of name

The choice of the name Benedict (Latin "the blessed") is significant. The new pope's birthday is on 16 April and that day is the feast of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (26 March, 1748 – 16 April, 1783), also known as the Holy Pilgrim. In addition, the previous Pope Benedict XV (1914 to 1922) was seen as a conciliator who calmed the disputes between modernist and anti-modernist factions with the Church, and the adoption of the name Benedict has been seen as a sign that Ratzinger has similar goals. Additionally, Der Spiegel reports on an interview with Joachim Cardinal Meisner, usually regarded as close to Ratzinger, stating that he chose Benedict because of Benedict XV who "did much for peace in the world". Ratzinger has not yet made specific public comments on why he chose the name, or if he had considered the issue of choosing a name prior to entering the conclave.

Theology professor Susan Roll of the University of Ottawa speculates in the Globe and Mail, however, that the new Pope's name may be taken from St. Benedict, who founded the Benedictine Order and is credited by Catholics for preserving Christian civilization during the Great Migration in the Early Middle Ages. St. Benedict is also one of the patron saints of Europe. Ratzinger has always been concerned that Europe should do its utmost not to lose its Christian heritage. Some have speculated that the choice of the name of Europe's patron signals an intention to reclaim Europe for Christ.

However, John Allen, the pope's biographer, told CNN on April 20, 2005, that the choice of name also appears to be a purposeful allusion to the fact that the previous holder of the name Benedict was shortlived in office. Ratzinger's brother has stated that he hoped that his aged sibling would not be elected to the papacy due to the pressures of the office and the fact that in 1991, Cardinal Ratzinger suffered a brain hemorrhage. "At age 78 it's not good to take on such a job which challenges the entire person and the physical and mental existence," Georg Ratzinger, then 81 years of age, said in an article published in the Guardian on April 20, 2005. "At an age when you approach 80 it's no longer guaranteed that one is able to work and get up the next day." Given this history, John Allen noted that the pope likely has "a very keen sense that this may not be a very long pontificate and there's an awful lot to do."

Allen's observation is further corroborated by Ratzinger's comments to cardinals just after his election, explaining his name. Francis Cardinal George of Chicago said that Ratzinger told the cardinals, "I too hope in this short reign to be a man of peace."

It may also be noted in this context that both Pope Benedict XII and Pope Benedict XIV, like Benedict XVI, were expert theologians who placed a high value on the magisterium of the Church.

Some view the pope's choice of name as a fulfillment of the Prophecy of the Popes of St. Malachy.

Theology

Benedict XVI has taken positions similar to his predecessor, John Paul II, and has been a staunch defender of existing Catholic doctrine. He has made it clear that he intends to maintain traditions, and not give in to modern pressures to change fundamental Church dogma and teaching on such issues as birth control, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Ratzinger maintains the Church's opposition to moral relativism, which he sees as producing views ranging "from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth."

Benedict's theology places much emphasis on the role of the institutions of the Catholic Church as the instrument by which God's message manifests itself on Earth. As such, he does not view the search for moral truth as a dialectic and incremental process, and this view of the role of the Church is one that tends to resist external social trends rather than submitting to them.

In a pre-conclave mass in St. Peter's Basilica, he warned, "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires."

Benedict has strongly opposed liberation theology but at the same time been a strong supporter of charismatic Catholicism, and some of his theological work has been devoted to stating the difference between the two. Furthermore, he has spoken positively about the Vatican II council and has shown no evidence that he intends to reverse or limit the decisions of that council.

Benedict is a theologian in a modern orthodox vein. His theology aims at a synthesis of Thomism, philosophical personalism (with such proponents as Martin Buber, John Paul II — in his case, however, tempered by phenomenology, and, more recently, Leon Kass) and the 'nouvelle théologie' of Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar. This is a sharp contrast with the school of thought, until recently ascendent in the theological academy of Europe and the United States, represented by Karl Rahner, Hans Küng, and Edward Schillebeeckx.

At one of the first masses of his pontificate he urged Catholics to show a greater devotion to the "Eucharistic Jesus."

Controversial views

Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was a well-known and quite controversial figure inside and outside the Catholic Church, for a number of outspoken pronouncements. Many find the controversy around Ratzinger's statements puzzling as his views tended to be very close to the views of Pope John Paul II who has not been subject to criticisms on the same scale as Ratzinger.

Other faiths

In 1987, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that Jewish history and scripture reach fulfillment only in Christ – a position critics denounced as "theological anti-Semitism," although it is very much in the general tradition of Christian views of the Old Testament and the Jews. Other religious groups took offense to a 2000 document entitled Dominus Iesus in which he stated that, "Only in the Catholic Church is there eternal salvation". The document also condemned "relativistic theories" of religious pluralism and described other faiths as "gravely deficient." The document was primarily aimed at reining in liberal Catholic theologians like Jacques Dupuis, who argued that other religions could also lead to salvation, but it offended many religious leaders. Jewish religious leaders boycotted several interfaith meetings in protest.

However, groups such as the World Jewish Congress commended his election as Pope as "welcome" and extolled his "great sensitivity". Though his advent was congratulated by Buddhist leaders around the world, critics remembered that in March 1997 Cardinal Ratzinger called Buddhism (actually Hinduism) an "autoerotic" spirituality that offered "transcendence without imposing concrete religious obligations" and threatened the Catholic Church. However, the quotation was first published in a French Catholic journal, and Rev. Heng Sure, a Buddhist monk, argued that "autoerotic" was a mistranslation of the French auto-erotisme, which more properly translates to self-absorption, or narcissism.

In an interview in 2004 for Le Figaro Magazine, Ratzinger said Turkey, a country Muslim by heritage and staunchly Secularist by its state constitution, should seek its future in an association of Islamic nations rather than the EU, 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.

Benedict's 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, as it is central dogma of Catholic theology that there is no salvation outside the church (see extra ecclesiam nulla salus). 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. Specifically, they argue that Ratzinger has been instrumental at encouraging reconciliation with Lutherans. In defending Dominus Iesus, Benedict 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.

Homosexuality

Gay rights advocates widely criticized his 1986 letter to the Bishops of the Church, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, in which he stated that "although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder." In an earlier letter dated September 30, 1985, Ratzinger reprimanded Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen for his unorthodox views on women, gays, and doctrinal issues, stating, "The Archdiocese should withdraw all support from any group, which does not unequivocally accept the teaching of the Magisterium concerning the intrinsic evil of homosexual activity." Archbishop Hunthausen was temporarily relieved of his authority.

AIDS

In 1988 a debate within the Catholic Church over the use of condoms to prevent AIDS sparked controversy again. The Church in 1968 had already stated in Humanae Vitae that chemical and barrier methods of contraception went against Church teachings. The debate was over the different issue of whether or not condoms could be used, not as contraceptives, but as a means of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In 1987, the U. S. Conference of Bishops issued a document suggesting that education on the use of condoms could be an acceptable part of an anti-AIDS program.

In response, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that such an approach "would result in at least the facilitation of evil" – not merely its toleration. For the full text of the letter, see: On "The Many Faces of AIDS". Critics argue that Ratzinger's approach would lead to increases in the frequency of HIV/AIDS infections, while many Catholics dispute this and emphasize the value of faithful relationships or chastity.

The position is not arbitrary nor moralistic, but possesses a rigorous philosophical basis (See Karol Wojtyla's Love and Responsibility). It seems that considerable weight can be given to this position, as abstinence promoted in the country of Uganda has reduced an AIDS population of 29% to roughly 6%, as opposed to other countries where condoms are promoted and the infection levels have either remained stable or increased.

Church sex abuse scandal

In general

Regarding the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, he was seen by critics as at best indifferent to the abuse and at worst complicit in covering it up, both in specific cases and as a matter of policy. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, such abuses were ultimately his responsibility to investigate within the Church and/or ensure investigation by secular authorities. In May 2001, he sent a confidential letter to every bishop in the Catholic church reminding them of the strict penalties facing those who referred allegations of sexual abuse against priests to outside authorities. The letter instructed bishops on how to deal with allegations of sexual abuse between a priest and a child arising out of a confessional, stating that the church's jurisdiction 'begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age' and lasts for 10 years. By sending the letter, lawyers acting for two alleged victims of abuse in Texas claim the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice.

In 2002 he told Catholic News Service that "less than 1 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. A report by the Catholic Church itself estimated that some 4,450 of the Roman Catholic clergy who served between 1950 and 2002 have faced credible accusations of abuse. 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, Benedict XVI told Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, that he would attend to the matter.

Specific cases

In an RTÉ Radio 1 interview on 20 April 2005, retired Archbishop of Dublin Desmond Cardinal Connell, a close friend of the new Pope, revealed that then Cardinal Ratzinger's advice was crucial in guiding his approach to dealing with a series of clerical sex abuse scandals in Dublin in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Connell's handling of the events, including the controversial loaning of diocesian funds to a sex-abusing priest to enable him to pay off his victim and stop any future legal action, was roundly condemned at the time. The "crucial" role (Connell's words) of Cardinal Ratzinger in advising the then archbishop during this period, was not known until revealed in the post-conclave interview.

On 23 April 2005, The Independent (UK) reported that the then Cardinal Ratzinger had since 1997 ignored specific sex abuse allegations made by nine different people against Fr Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ. Cardinal Ratzinger is quoted as having said "One can't put on trial such a close friend of the Pope's as Marcial Maciel." Allegations against Fr. Maciel had been investigated multiple times in past decades, and Cardinal Ratzinger re-opened the investigation in December of 2004.

Abortion

In the United States, during the 2004 presidential campaign, Cardinal Ratzinger expressed the view that voters would be "cooperating in evil" if they voted for a political candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on legalized abortion or euthanasia. He went on to state that voting for these candidates for other serious reasons (i.e. voting in spite of, rather than because of, their views concerning abortion/euthanasia) was theoretically justifiable. Ratzinger caused further controversy after condoning the denial of Holy Communion to politicians who were outspoken in support of legalized abortion. However, he did add that bishops should only withhold communion after meeting with, teaching and warning politicians first.

Animals

Although not a vegetarian, the new Pope has spoken about the exploitation of all beings, particularly of farmed animals. When he was asked about the rights of animals in a 2002 interview, he said, "That is a very serious question. At any rate, we can see that they are given into our care, that we cannot just do whatever we want with them. Animals, too, are God's creatures...Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible." Cardinal Ratzinger was echoing official church teachings laid out in the Catholic Catechism, which states clearly that “Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals. . . . It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.”

Other

Benedict has criticized genetic manipulation and the cloning of embryos. He has said that "good goals" cannot justify the means of such research.

In Latin America, during the 1980s, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he silenced outspoken liberation theologians and clergy.

Ratzinger criticized the U.S. war on Iraq in 2003, saying that it could not be justified. In selecting the name Benedict, he also is joining the tradition of Pope Benedict XV, who worked on the behalf of peace during World War I.

Ratzinger has maintained that the concept of female priests does not fit into the Catholic faith. He has also rejected the idea that divorced people can remarry, and said in a 1994 letter to the bishops ] that those who do so have no right to receive communion. He has repeatedly criticized the materialization of life and the "greed society".

In The Spirit of the Liturgy in 2000, Ratzinger attacked Rock and Roll as "the expression of elemental passions" and described some rock concerts as becoming "a form of worship ... in opposition to Christian worship." However, he is a great lover of classical and folk music. He plays piano with a preference for Mozart and Beethoven.

Notes

1. Though the style His Holiness is used formally by Catholics and others, it is offensive to followers of some other religions.
2. Some historians dispute the characterization of Adrian VI as German because he was from Utrecht, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire in his time, but is now in the Netherlands. The most recent pope to come from what is now Germany was Victor II. Ratzinger is the third pope to hail from within the boundaries of modern Germany.
3. www.timesonline.co.uk April 17, 2005. Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth
4. International Herald Tribune, April 22, 2005.A boy's dreams lead from a village to the Vatican (reprinted from the New York Times)
5. www.nytimes.com, April 21, 2005. A Future Pope Is Recalled: A Lover of Cats and Mozart, Dazzled by Church as a Boy.
6. theage.com.au April 21, 2005. Cousin recalls boy who dreamed of church life
7. www.nytimes.com, April 21, 2005. A Future Pope Is Recalled: A Lover of Cats and Mozart, Dazzled by Church as a Boy.
8. www.communio-icr.com
9. www.spiegel.de 20 April, 2005. Die Welt staunt über die Wahl der Kardinäle
10. www.hughhewitt.com April 18, 2005. Cardinal Ratzinger Spells It Out for You
11. www.theaustralian.news.com.au April 18, 2005. Nazi link may dog favourite
12. www.worldjewishcongress.org April 19, 2005. Election of Cardinal Ratzinger as new Pope welcomed
13. www.phayul.com April 20, 2005. His Holiness the Dalai Lama Greets New Pope
14. english.chosun.com April 20, 2005. Korean Catholics Welcome New Pontiff
15. www.iht.com April 21, 2005. Benedict XVI: Ratzinger's positions on issues facing the Catholic Church
16. Dharma Forest April 20, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI's Buddhist Encounter.
17. www.freerepublic.com April 20, 2005. New Pope's Views on Turkey/EU Stir Unease in Ankara
18. seattlepi.nwsource.com April 19, 2005. Gay Catholics in Washington concerned with new pope
19. catholiceducation.org October 2004 The “Social Vaccine”, c-fam.org December 13, 2002 Condom Lobby Drives AIDS Debate Besides Abstinence Success in Africa
21. zenit.org December 3, 2002. Cardinal Ratzinger ... Sees Agenda Behind the Reporting in U.S.
22. www.vatican.va Vatican Transcript of Meditation on the Ninth Station of the Cross
23. The Independent (UK) April 23, 2005. Pope "ignored sex abuse claim against John Paul's friend"
24. www.defide.com 20 March, 2004. John Paul II speech on Euthanasia.
25. www.goveg.com April 19, 2005. Pope Condemns Factory Farming: Benedict XVI Continues Tradition of Papal Concern for Animals
26. The Guardian April 24, 2005. Pope 'obstructed' sex abuse inquiry
27. The Guardian April 24, 2005. The Pope, the letter and the child sex claim

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

Works

See the list of Works of Pope Benedict XVI.

See also

• Dominus Iesus
• Prophecy of the Popes
• List of popes and antipopes known as Pope Benedict
• On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Later Pope Benedict XVI), 1986
• On "The Many Faces of AIDS" by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Later Pope Benedict XVI), 1988

External links and references

Official

• Vatican: the Holy See – Vatican web site
• Vatican: Election Vatican web page about election
• Communio magazine, founded by Ratzinger and others. Contains recent articles by him.
• Official email address: (see link 'Greetings to the Holy Father')

Biographical

• Pope Benedict XVI: BBC Profile
• Deutsche Welle Dossier on Benedict XVI
• Washington Times Analysis: Ratzinger in the ascendance
• WSWS.org - Pope Benedict XVI’s political resume: theocracy and social reaction
• The Vatican’s Enforcer – The National Catholic Reporter's 1999 Cover Story on the history of then Cardinal Ratzinger
• World War II years
• Biography and resources about Ratzinger

General

• The Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club (see also The Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club)
• Amici di Joseph Ratzinger (in Italian)
• The Pope Blog: Pope Benedict XVI
• Papst News: Papst Benedikt XVI (german)
• Pope News Roundup
• Windows Media video from Vatican City announcing Habemus Papam (We have a Pope!)
• Yahoo! Pope Benedict XVI directory category
• Open Directory Project – Benedict XVI directory category
• Ratzinger page at www.cardinalrating.com

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