Pope Benedict XVI
By The Christian Portal,
https://www.truechristianity.info/index_english.html
Benedict
XVI (Latin: Benedictus XVI; born Joseph Aloisius
Ratzinger on 16 April 1927) is Pope emeritus of the Catholic
Church. He served as Pope from 2005 to 2013. In that role, he was
both the leader of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of the Vatican
City State. Benedict was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave,
celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took
possession of his cathedral, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran,
on 7 May 2005.
Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger established
himself as a highly regarded university theologian by the late 1950s
and was appointed a full professor in 1958. After a long career
as an academic, serving as a professor of theology at several German
universities—the last being the University of Regensburg, where
he served as Vice President of the university in 1976 and 1977—he
was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal by
Pope Paul VI in 1977, an unusual promotion for someone with little
pastoral experience. In 1981, he settled in Rome when he became
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of
the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia. From 2002 until
his election as pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals,
and as such, the primus inter pares among the cardinals. Prior to
becoming pope, he was "a major figure on the Vatican stage
for a quarter of a century" as "one of the most respected,
influential and controversial members of the College of Cardinals";
he had an influence "second to none when it came to setting
church priorities and directions" as one of Pope John Paul
II's closest confidants.
He was originally a liberal theologian, but adopted conservative
views after 1968. His prolific writings defend traditional Catholic
doctrine and values. During his papacy, Benedict XVI advocated a
return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased
secularisation of many Western countries. He views relativism's
denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular,
as the central problem of the 21st century. He taught the importance
of both the Catholic Church and an understanding of God's redemptive
love. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of
the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged
in charitable work." Pope Benedict also revived a number of
traditions including elevating the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent
position. He renewed the relationship between the Catholic Church
and art, viewing the use of beauty as a path to the sacred, promoted
the use of Latin, and reintroduced traditional papal garments, for
which reason he was called "the pope of aesthetics". Several
of Pope Benedict's students from his academic career are also prominent
churchmen today and confidantes of him, notably Christoph Schönborn.
On 11 February 2013, Pope Benedict announced his resignation in
a speech in Latin before the cardinals, citing a "lack of strength
of mind and body" due to his advanced age. His resignation
became effective on 28 February 2013. He is the first pope to resign
since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so on his own
initiative since Pope Celestine V in 1294. As pope emeritus, Benedict
retains the style of His Holiness, and the title of Pope, and will
continue to dress in the papal colour of white. He is expected to
move into the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae monastery for his
retirement. He was succeeded by Pope Francis on 13 March 2013.
Overview
Benedict XVI was elected pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest
person to have been elected pope since Pope Clement XII (1730–40).
He had served longer as a cardinal than any pope since Benedict
XIII (1724–30). He was the ninth German pope, the eighth having
been the Dutch-German Pope Adrian VI (1522–23) from Utrecht. The
last pope named Benedict was Benedict XV, an Italian who reigned
from 1914 to 1922, during World War I (1914–18).
Born in 1927 in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany, Ratzinger had a distinguished
career as a university theologian before being appointed Archbishop
of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI (1963–78). Shortly afterwards,
he was made a cardinal in the consistory of 27 June 1977. He was
appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
by Pope John Paul II in 1981 and was also assigned the honorific
title of the cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni on 5 April 1993.
In 1998, he was elected sub-dean of the College of Cardinals. On
30 November 2002, he was elected dean, taking, as is customary,
the title of cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Ostia.
He was the first Dean of the College elected pope since Paul IV
(1555–59) and the first cardinal bishop elected pope since Pius
VIII (1829–30).
Even before becoming pope, Ratzinger was one of the most influential
men in the Roman Curia, and was a close associate of John Paul II.
As Dean of the College of Cardinals, he presided over the funeral
of John Paul II and over the Mass immediately preceding the 2005
conclave in which he was elected. During the service, he called
on the assembled cardinals to hold fast to the doctrine of the faith.
He was the public face of the church in the sede vacante period,
although, technically, he ranked below the Camerlengo in administrative
authority during that time. Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI affirms
traditional Catholic doctrine.
In addition to his native German, Benedict speaks French and Italian
fluently. He also has a very good command of Latin and speaks English
and Spanish adequately. Furthermore, he has some knowledge of Portuguese.
He can read Ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew. He has stated that
his first foreign language is French. He is a member of several
scientific academies, such as the French Académie des sciences morales
et politiques. He plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart
and Bach.
Early life: 1927–51
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was born on 16 April, Holy Saturday,
1927, at Schulstraße 11, at 8:30 in the morning in his parents'
home in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany. He was baptised the same day.
He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a
police officer, and Maria Ratzinger (née Peintner). His mother's
family was originally from South Tyrol (now in Italy). Pope Benedict
XVI's brother, Georg Ratzinger, a priest and former director of
the Regensburger Domspatzen choir, is still alive. His sister, Maria
Ratzinger, who never married, managed Cardinal Ratzinger's household
until her death in 1991. Their grand-uncle was the German politician
Georg Ratzinger.
At the age of five, Ratzinger was in a group of children who welcomed
the visiting Cardinal Archbishop of Munich with flowers. Struck
by the cardinal's distinctive garb, he later announced the very
same day that he wanted to be a cardinal.
Ratzinger attended the elementary school in Aschau am Inn, which
was renamed in his honour in 2009.
Pope Benedict XVI at a private audience
on 20 January 2006
Ratzinger's family, especially his father, bitterly resented the
Nazis, and his father's opposition to Nazism resulted in demotions
and harassment of the family. Following his 14th birthday in 1941,
Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth—as membership was
required by law for all 14-year-old German boys after December 1939—but
was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings, according
to his brother. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old
boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and murdered
during the Action T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics. In 1943, while still
in seminary, he was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps
as Luftwaffenhelfer (air force child soldier). Ratzinger then trained
in the German infantry. As the Allied front drew closer to his post
in 1945, he deserted back to his family's home in Traunstein after
his unit had ceased to exist, just as American troops established
a headquarters in the Ratzinger household. As a German soldier,
he was put in a POW camp but was released a few months later at
the end of the war in May 1945. He reentered the seminary, along
with his brother Georg, in November.
Thus, following repatriation in 1945, the two brothers entered
Saint Michael Seminary in Traunstein, later studying at the Ducal
Georgianum (Herzogliches Georgianum) of the Ludwig-Maximilian University
in Munich. They were both ordained in Freising on 29 June 1951 by
Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Munich. Ratzinger recalled:
"...at the moment the elderly Archbishop laid his hands
on me, a little bird – perhaps a lark – flew up from the altar
in the high cathedral and trilled a little joyful song."
Ratzinger's 1953 dissertation was on St. Augustine and was titled
The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church.
His Habilitation (which qualified him for a professorship) was on
Bonaventure. It was completed in 1957 and he became a professor
of Freising College in 1958.
Pre-papal career
Academic career: 1951–77
Ratzinger became a professor at the University of Bonn in 1959;
his inaugural lecture was on "The God of Faith and the God
of Philosophy". In 1963, he moved to the University of Münster.
During this period, Ratzinger participated in the Second Vatican
Council (1962–65). Ratzinger served as a peritus (theological consultant)
to Cardinal Frings of Cologne. He was viewed during the time of
the Council as a reformer, cooperating with theologians like Hans
Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx. Ratzinger became an admirer of Karl
Rahner, a well-known academic theologian of the Nouvelle Théologie
and a proponent of church reform.
The house where Ratzinger was born,
in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany. The building still stands today.
In 1966, Ratzinger was appointed to a chair in dogmatic theology
at the University of Tübingen, where he was a colleague of Hans
Küng. In his 1968 book Introduction to Christianity, he wrote that
the pope has a duty to hear differing voices within the Church before
making a decision, and he downplayed the centrality of the papacy.
During this time, he distanced himself from the atmosphere of Tübingen
and the Marxist leanings of the student movement of the 1960s that
quickly radicalised, in the years 1967 and 1968, culminating in
a series of disturbances and riots in April and May 1968. Ratzinger
came increasingly to see these and associated developments (such
as decreasing respect for authority among his students) as connected
to a departure from traditional Catholic teachings. Despite his
reformist bent, his views increasingly came to contrast with the
liberal ideas gaining currency in theological circles.
Some voices, among them Hans Küng, deem this a turn towards conservatism,
while Ratzinger himself said in a 1993 interview, "I see no
break in my views as a theologian [over the years]". Ratzinger
continued to defend the work of the Second Vatican Council, including
Nostra Aetate, the document on respect of other religions, ecumenism
and the declaration of the right to freedom of religion. 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 2000 document Dominus Iesus which also
talks about the Roman Catholic way to engage in "ecumenical
dialogue".
During his years at Tübingen University, Ratzinger published articles
in the reformist theological journal Concilium, though he increasingly
chose less reformist themes than other contributors to the magazine
such as Hans Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx.
In 1969, he returned to Bavaria, to the University of Regensburg.
He founded the theological journal Communio, with Hans Urs von Balthasar,
Henri de Lubac, Walter Kasper and others, in 1972. Communio, now
published in seventeen languages, including German, English and
Spanish, has become a prominent journal of contemporary Catholic
theological thought. Until his election as pope, he remained one
of the journal's most prolific contributors. In 1976, he suggested
that the Augsburg Confession might possibly be recognised as a Catholic
statement of faith.
Several of Pope Benedict's students from his academic career are
also prominent churchmen today and confidantes of him, notably Christoph
Schönborn, and a number of his former students sometimes meet for
discussions.
He served as Vice President of the University of Regensburg from
1976 to 1977.
Archbishop of Munich and Freising: 1977–82
Palais Holnstein in Munich, the residence of Benedict as Archbishop
of Munich and Freising
On 24 March 1977, Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich
and Freising. He took as his episcopal motto Cooperatores Veritatis
(Co-workers of the Truth) from 3 John 8, a choice he comments upon
in his autobiographical work, Milestones. In the consistory of the
following 27 June, he was named Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Consolatrice
al Tiburtino by Pope Paul VI. By 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. Of these, only
he and William Wakefield Baum took part in the conclave.
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
1981–2005
On 25 November 1981, Pope John Paul II named Ratzinger as the Prefect
of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly
known as the "Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office",
the historical Roman Inquisition. Consequently, he resigned his
post at Munich in early 1982. He was promoted within the College
of Cardinals to become Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni in 1993
and was made the college's vice-dean in 1998 and dean in 2002. Just
a year after its foundation in 1990 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger joined
the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg/Austria in
1991.
Ratzinger defended and reaffirmed Catholic doctrine, including
teaching on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and inter-religious
dialogue. The theologian Leonardo Boff, for example, was suspended,
while others were censured. Other issues also prompted condemnations
or revocations of rights to teach: for instance, some posthumous
writings of Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello were the subject of a
notification. Ratzinger and the congregation viewed many of them,
particularly the later works, as having an element of religious
indifferentism (i.e., Christ was "one master alongside others").
In particular, Dominus Iesus, published by the congregation in the
jubilee year 2000, reaffirmed many recently "unpopular"
ideas, including the Catholic Church's position that "Salvation
is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given to men by which we must be saved." The document angered
many Protestant churches by claiming that they are not actually
churches, but "ecclesial communities".
Ratzinger's 2001 letter De delictis gravioribus clarified the confidentiality
of internal church investigations, as defined in the 1962 document
Crimen Sollicitationis, into accusations made against priests of
certain crimes, including sexual abuse. This became a target of
controversy during the sex abuse scandal. As a Cardinal, Ratzinger
had been for twenty years the man in charge of enforcing the document.
While bishops hold the secrecy pertained only internally, and did
not preclude investigation by civil law enforcement, the letter
was often seen as promoting a coverup. Later, as pope, he was accused
in a lawsuit of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three
boys in Texas, but sought and obtained diplomatic immunity from
prosecution.
On 12 March 1983, Ratzinger, as prefect, notified the lay faithful
and the clergy that archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo Dinh Thuc had incurred
excommunication latae sententiae for illicit episcopal consecrations
without the apostolic mandate.
In 1997, when he turned 70, Ratzinger asked Pope John Paul II for
permission to leave the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith and
to become an archivist in the Vatican Secret Archives and a librarian
in the Vatican Library, but the Pope refused such permission.
Palais Holnstein in Munich, the residence
of Benedict as Archbishop of Munich and Freising
Papacy: 2005–13
Election to the papacy
On 2 January 2005, Time magazine quoted unnamed Vatican sources
as saying that Ratzinger was a front runner to succeed John Paul
II should he die or become too ill to continue as pope. 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. In April 2005, before his election
as pope, he was identified as one of the 100 most influential people
in the world by Time. While Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger repeatedly stated he would like
to retire to his house in the Bavarian village of Pentling near
Regensburg and dedicate himself to writing books.
At the conclave, "it was, if not Ratzinger, who? And as they
came to know him, the question became, why not Ratzinger?"
On 19 April 2005, Ratzinger was elected on the second day after
four ballots. Ratzinger had hoped to retire peacefully and said
that "At a certain point, I prayed to God 'please don't do
this to me'...Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me."
Coincidentally, 19 April is the feast of St. Leo IX, the most important
German pope of the Middle Ages, known for instituting major reforms
during his pontificate.
Before his first appearance at the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica
after becoming pope, he was announced by Jorge Medina Estévez, Cardinal
Protodeacon of the Holy Roman Church. Cardinal Medina Estévez first
addressed the massive crowd as "dear(est) brothers and sisters"
in Italian, Spanish, French, German and English, with each language
receiving cheers from the international crowd, before continuing
with the traditional Habemus Papam announcement in Latin.
At the balcony, Benedict's first words to the crowd, given in Italian
before he gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in Latin, were:
"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 insufficient instruments comforts me,
and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of
the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help, let us move forward.
The Lord will help us, and Mary, His Most Holy Mother, will be
on our side. Thank you."
On 24 April, he celebrated the Papal Inauguration Mass in St. Peter's
Square, during which he was invested with the Pallium and the Ring
of the Fisherman. Then, on 7 May, he took possession of his cathedral
church, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square,
Rome
Choice of name
Ratzinger chose the pontifical name Benedict, which comes from
the Latin word meaning "the blessed", in honour of both
Pope Benedict XV and Saint Benedict of Nursia. Pope Benedict XV
was pope during the First World War, during which time he passionately
pursued peace between the warring nations. St. Benedict of Nursia
was the founder of the Benedictine monasteries (most monasteries
of the Middle Ages were of the Benedictine order) and the author
of the Rule of Saint Benedict, which is still the most influential
writing regarding the monastic life of Western Christianity.
The Pope explained his choice of name during his first General
Audience in St. Peter's Square, on 27 April 2005:
"Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish
to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember
Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided
the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I
place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony
between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Nursia,
co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of
Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality
of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first
place in our thoughts and actions!"
Tone of papacy
During his inaugural Mass, the previous custom of every cardinal
submitting to the Pope was replaced by having twelve people, including
cardinals, clergy, religious, a married couple and their child,
and newly confirmed people, greet him. (The cardinals had formally
sworn their obedience upon his election.) He began using an open-topped
papal car, saying that he wanted to be closer to the people. Pope
Benedict continued the tradition of his predecessor John Paul II
and baptised several infants in the Sistine Chapel at the beginning
of each year, in his pastoral role as Bishop of Rome.
Beatifications
On 9 May 2005, Benedict XVI began the beatification process for
his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Normally, five years must pass
after a person's death before the beatification process can begin.
However, in an audience with Pope Benedict, Camillo Ruini, Vicar
General of the Diocese of Rome and the official responsible for
promoting the cause for canonization of any person who dies within
that diocese, cited "exceptional circumstances" which
suggested that the waiting period could be waived. This happened
before, when Pope Paul VI waived the five-year rule and announced
beatification processes for his predecessors, Pope Pius XII and
Pope John XXIII. Benedict XVI followed this precedent when he waived
the five-year rule for John Paul II. The decision was announced
on 13 May 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima and the 24th anniversary
of the attempt on John Paul II's life. John Paul II often credited
Our Lady of Fátima for preserving him on that day. Cardinal Ruini
inaugurated the diocesan phase of the cause for beatification in
the Lateran Basilica on 28 June 2005.
The first beatification under the new pope was celebrated on 14
May 2005, by José Cardinal Saraiva Martins, Cardinal Prefect of
the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The new Blesseds were
Mother Marianne Cope and Mother Ascensión Nicol Goñi. Cardinal Clemens
August Graf von Galen was beatified on 9 October 2005. Mariano de
la Mata was beatified in November 2006 and Rosa Eluvathingal was
beatified 3 December of that year, and Fr. Basil Moreau was beatified
September 2007. In October 2008 the following beatifications took
place: Celestine of the Mother of God, Giuseppina Nicoli, Hendrina
Stenmanns, Maria Rosa Flesch, Marta Anna Wiecka, Michael Sopocko,
Petrus Kibe Kasui and 187 Companions, Susana Paz-Castillo Ramírez,
Maria Isbael Salvat Romero, and John Henry Newman.
Unlike his predecessor, Benedict XVI delegated the beatification
liturgical service to a Cardinal. On 29 September 2005, the Congregation
for the Causes of Saints issued a communiqué announcing that henceforth
beatifications would be celebrated by a representative of the pope,
usually the prefect of that Congregation.
Canonizations
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his first canonizations on 23 October
2005 in St. Peter's Square when he canonized Josef Bilczewski, Alberto
Hurtado SJ, Zygmunt Gorazdowski, Gaetano Catanoso, and Felice da
Nicosia. The canonizations were part of a Mass that marked the conclusion
of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and the Year of
the Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Bishop Rafael Guizar
y Valencia, Mother Theodore Guerin, Filippo Smaldone, and Rosa Venerini
on 15 October 2006.
Pope Benedict at the canonization of
Frei Galvão
During his visit to Brazil in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI presided
over the canonization of Frei Galvão on 11 May, while George Preca,
founder of the Malta based M.U.S.E.U.M., Szymon of Lipnica, Charles
of Mount Argus, and Marie-Eugénie de Jésus were canonized in a ceremony
held at the Vatican on 3 June 2007. Preca is the first Maltese saint
since the country's conversion to Christianity in 60 A.D. when St.
Paul converted the inhabitants. In October 2008 the following canonizations
took place: Saint Alphonsa of India, Gaetano Errico, Narcisa de
Jesus Martillo Moran, Maria Bernarda Bütler. In April 2009 he canonized
Arcangelo Tadini, Bernardo Tolomei, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Geltrude
Comensoli, Caterina Volpicelli. In October of the same year he canonized
Jeanne Jugan, Jozef Damian de Veuster, Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński,
Francisco Coll Guitart and Rafael Arnáiz Barón.
On 17 October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI formally declared sainthood
for Saint André Bessette, a French-Canadian; Stanislaw Soltys, a
15th-century Polish priest; Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Camilla
Battista da Varano; Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria
y Barriola and the first Australian saint, Mother Mary MacKillop.
On 23 October 2011, Pope Benedict XVI canonized three saints: a
Spanish nun Bonifacia Rodriguez y Castro, Italian archbishop Guido
Maria Conforti, and Italian priest Luigi Guanella.
In December 2011, Pope Benedict formally recognized the validity
of the miracles necessary to proceed with the canonizations of Kateri
Tekakwitha, who would be the first Native American saint, Marianne
Cope, a nun working with lepers in what is now the state of Hawaii,
Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian priest, Jacques Berthieu
a French Jesuit priest and African martyr, Carmen Salles y Barangueras,
a Spanish nun and founder of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception,
Peter Calungsod, a lay catechist and martyr from the Philippines,
and Anna Schaffer whose desire to be a missionary was unfulfilled
on account of her illness. They were canonized on 21 October 2012.
Doctors of the Church
On 7 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named Hildegard of Bingen
and John of Avila Doctors of the Church, the 34th and 35th individuals
so recognised in the history of Christianity.
Curia reform
Pope Benedict began downsizing the Roman Curia when he merged four
existing pontifical councils into two in March 2006. The Pontifical
Council for Migrants was merged with the Pontifical Council for
Justice and Peace headed by Cardinal Martino. Likewise, Cardinal
Poupard, who headed the Pontifical Council for Culture, now also
oversees the operations of what had been the Pontifical Council
for Interreligious Dialogue, though both Councils maintained separate
officials and staffs while their status and competencies continued
unchanged. In May 2007 it was decided that Interreligious Dialogue
would again become a separate body under a different President.
In June 2010 Benedict created the Pontifical Council for the Promotion
of the New Evangelisation. He appointed Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella
as its first president.
Teachings
As pope, one of Benedict XVI's main roles was to teach about the
Catholic faith and the solutions to the problems of discerning and
living the faith, a role that he could play well as a former head
of the Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The
main points of emphasis of his teachings are stated in more detail
in Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.
"Friendship with Jesus Christ"
At the conclusion of his first homily as pope, Benedict referred
to both Jesus Christ and John Paul II. Citing John Paul II's well-known
words, "Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!",
Benedict XVI said:
"Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ
enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him,
are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And
once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives,
we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life
free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience
beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to Him, we receive
a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ
– and you will find true life."
Benedict XVI: "The Eucharist is
the enduring presence of Jesus' self-oblation." (Deus Caritas
Est)
"Friendship with Jesus Christ" is a frequent theme of
his preaching. He stressed that on this intimate friendship, "everything
depends." He also said: "We are all called to open ourselves
to this friendship with God... speaking to him as to a friend, the
only One who can make the world both good and happy... That is all
we have to do is put ourselves at his disposal...is an extremely
important message. It is a message that helps to overcome what can
be considered the great temptation of our time: the claim, that
after the Big Bang, God withdrew from history." Thus, in his
book Jesus of Nazareth, his main purpose was "to help foster
[in the reader] the growth of a living relationship" with Jesus
Christ.
He took up this theme in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est.
In his personal explanation and summary of the encyclical, he stated:
"If friendship with God becomes for us something ever more
important and decisive, then we will begin to love those whom God
loves and who are in need of us. God wants us to be friends of his
friends and we can be so, if we are interiorly close to them."
Thus, he said that prayer is "urgently needed... It is time
to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism
and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable
work."
"Dictatorship of relativism"
Continuing what he said in the pre-conclave Mass about what he
often referred to as the "central problem of our faith today",
on 6 June 2005 Pope Benedict also said:
"Today, a particularly insidious obstacle to the task of
education is the massive presence in our society and culture of
that relativism which, recognising nothing as definitive, leaves
as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. And
under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one,
for it separates people from one another, locking each person
into his or her own ego."
He said that "a dictatorship of relativism" was the core
challenge facing the church and humanity. At the root of this problem,
he said, is Kant's "self-limitation of reason". This,
he said, is contradictory to the modern acclamation of science whose
excellence is based on the power of reason to know the truth. He
said that this self-amputation of reason leads to pathologies of
religion such as terrorism and pathologies of science such as ecological
disasters. Benedict traced the failed revolutions and violent ideologies
of the 20th century to a conversion of partial points of view into
absolute guides. He said "Absolutizing what is not absolute
but relative is called totalitarianism."
In an address to a conference of the Diocese of Rome held at the
basilica of St. John Lateran 6 June 2005, Benedict remarked on the
issues of same sex marriage and abortion:
"The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today,
like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies
by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic
freedom that wrongly passes for true freedom of man...from here
it becomes all the more clear how contrary it is to human love,
to the profound vocation of man and woman, to systematically close
their union to the gift of life, and even worse to suppress or
tamper with the life that is born."
Christianity as religion according to reason
In the discussion with secularism and rationalism, one of Benedict's
basic ideas can be found in his address on the "Crisis of Culture"
in the West, a day before Pope John Paul II died, when he referred
to Christianity as the Religion of the Logos (the Greek for "word",
"reason", "meaning", or "intelligence").
He said:
"From the beginning, Christianity has understood itself
as the religion of the Logos, as the religion according to reason...
It has always defined men, all men without distinction, as creatures
and images of God, proclaiming for them...the same dignity. In
this connection, the Enlightenment is of Christian origin and
it is no accident that it was born precisely and exclusively in
the realm of the Christian faith....It was and is the merit of
the Enlightenment to have again proposed these original values
of Christianity and of having given back to reason its own voice...
Today, this should be precisely [Christianity's] philosophical
strength, in so far as the problem is whether the world comes
from the irrational, and reason is not other than a 'sub-product,'
on occasion even harmful of its development—or whether the world
comes from reason, and is, as a consequence, its criterion and
goal...In the so necessary dialogue between secularists and Catholics,
we Christians must be very careful to remain faithful to this
fundamental line: to live a faith that comes from the Logos, from
creative reason, and that, because of this, is also open to all
that is truly rational."
Benedict also emphasised that "Only creative reason, which
in the crucified God is manifested as love, can really show us the
way."
Encyclicals
Pope Benedict wrote three encyclicals: Deus Caritas Est (Latin
for "God is Love"), Spe Salvi ("Saved by Hope"),
and Caritas in Veritate ("Love in Truth").
In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, he said that a human
being, created in the image of God who is love, is able to practice
love: to give himself to God and others (agape), by receiving and
experiencing God's love in contemplation. This life of love, according
to him, is the life of the saints such as Teresa of Calcutta and
the Blessed Virgin Mary, and is the direction Christians take when
they believe that God loves them in Jesus Christ.
The encyclical contains almost 16,000 words in 42 paragraphs. The
first half is said to have been written by Benedict in German, his
mother tongue, in the summer of 2005; the second half is derived
from uncompleted writings left by his predecessor, Pope John Paul
II. The document was signed by Pope Benedict on Christmas Day, 25
December 2005. The encyclical was promulgated a month later in Latin
and was translated into English, French, German, Italian, Polish,
Portuguese and Spanish. It is the first encyclical to be published
since the Vatican decided to assert copyright in the official writings
of the pope.
Pope Benedict's second encyclical titled Spe Salvi ("Saved
by Hope"), about the virtue of hope, was released on 30 November
2007.
Benedict's third encyclical titled Caritas in Veritate ("Love
in Truth" or "Charity in Truth"), was signed on 29
June 2009 (the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul) and released on 7 July
2009. In it, the Pope continued the Church's teachings on social
justice. He condemned the prevalent economic system "where
the pernicious effects of sin are evident," and called on people
to rediscover ethics in business and economic relations.
Post-synodal apostolic exhortation
Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Charity) signed 22 February
2007, released in Latin, Italian, English, French, German, Portuguese,
Spanish, and Polish. It was made available in various languages
13 March 2007 in Rome. The English edition from Libera Editrice
Vaticana is 158 pages. This apostolic exhortation "seeks to
take up the richness and variety of the reflections and proposals
which emerged from the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of
Bishops..." which was held in 2006.
Motu proprio on Tridentine Mass
On
7 July 2007, Benedict XVI issued the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum,
declaring that upon "the request of the faithful", celebration
of Mass according to the Missal of 1962 (commonly known as the Tridentine
Mass), was to be more easily permitted. Stable groups who previously
had to petition their bishop to have a Tridentine Mass may now merely
request permission from their local priest. While Summorum Pontificum
directs that pastors should provide the Tridentine Mass upon the
requests of the faithful, it also allows for any qualified priest
to offer private celebrations of the Tridentine Mass, to which the
faithful may be admitted if they wish. For regularly scheduled public
celebrations of the Tridentine Mass, the permission of the priest
in charge of the church is required.
In an accompanying letter, the Pope outlined his position concerning
questions about the new guidelines. As there were fears that the
move would entail a reversal of the Second Vatican Council, Benedict
emphasised that the Tridentine Mass would not detract from the Council,
and that the Mass of Paul VI would still be the norm and priests
were not permitted to refuse to say the Mass in that form. He pointed
out that use of Tridentine Mass "was never juridically abrogated
and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted." The
letter also decried "deformations of the liturgy ... because
in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions
of the new Missal" as the Second Vatican Council was wrongly
seen "as authorising or even requiring creativity", mentioning
his own experience.
The Pope considered that allowing the Tridentine Mass to those
who request it was a means to prevent or heal schism, stating that,
on occasions in history, "not enough was done by the Church’s
leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity" and
that this "imposes an obligation on us today: to make every
effort to enable for all those who truly desire unity to remain
in that unity or to attain it anew." Many feel the decree aimed
at ending the schism between the Holy See and traditionalist groups
such as the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Cardinal Darío Castrillón
Hoyos, the president of the Pontifical Commission established for
the purpose of facilitating full ecclesial communion of those associated
with that Society, stated that the decree "opened the door
for their return". Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general
of the SSPX, expressed "deep gratitude to the Sovereign Pontiff
for this great spiritual benefit".
Unicity and salvific universality of the Catholic Church
Near the end of June 2007, the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith issued a document approved by Benedict XVI "because
some contemporary theological interpretations of Vatican II's ecumenical
intent had been 'erroneous or ambiguous' and had prompted confusion
and doubt." The document has been seen as restating "key
sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the
congregation, Dominus Iesus."
Consumerism
Benedict XVI condemned excessive consumerism, especially among
youth. He stated in December 2007 that "[A]dolescents, youths
and even children are easy victims of the corruption of love, deceived
by unscrupulous adults who, lying to themselves and to them, draw
them into the dead-end streets of consumerism."
In June 2009, he blamed outsourcing for greater availability of
consumer goods which lead to downsizing of social security systems.
Ecumenical efforts
Speaking at his weekly audience in St Peter's Square on 7 June
2006, Pope Benedict asserted that Jesus himself had entrusted the
leadership of the Church to his apostle Peter. "Peter's responsibility
thus consists of guaranteeing the communion with Christ," said
Pope Benedict. "Let us pray so that the primacy of Peter, entrusted
to poor human beings, may always be exercised in this original sense
desired by the Lord, so that it will be increasingly recognised
in its true meaning by brothers who are still not in communion with
us."
Also in 2006, Benedict met Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
and spiritual head of the Anglican Communion. In their Common Declaration,
they highlighted the previous 40 years of dialogue between Catholics
and Anglicans while also acknowledging "serious obstacles to
our ecumenical progress".
Benedict also acknowledged the Lutheran church, saying that he
has had friends in that organisation.
Dialogue with other religions
Pope Benedict was open to dialogue with other religious groups,
and sought to improve relations with them throughout his pontificate.
He, however, generated certain controversies in doing so.
Judaism
When Benedict ascended to the Papacy his election was welcomed
by the Anti-Defamation League who noted "his great sensitivity
to Jewish history and the Holocaust". However, his election
received a more reserved response from the United Kingdom's Chief
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who hoped that Benedict would "continue
along the path of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II in working
to enhance relations with the Jewish people and the State of Israel."
The Foreign Minister of Israel also offered more tentative praise,
though the Minister believed that "this Pope, considering his
historical experience, will be especially committed to an uncompromising
fight against anti-Semitism."
Critics have accused Benedict's papacy of insensitivity towards
Judaism. The two most prominent instances were the expansion of
the use of the Tridentine Mass and the lifting of the excommunication
on four bishops from the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). In the Good
Friday service, the traditional Mass rubrics include a prayer that
asks God to lift the veil so they [Jews] may be delivered from their
darkness. This prayer has historically been contentious in Judaic-Catholic
relations and several groups saw the restoration of the Tridentine
Mass as problematic. Among those whose excommunications were lifted
was Bishop Richard Williamson, an outspoken historical revisionist
sometimes interpreted as a Holocaust denier. The lifting of his
excommunication led critics to charge that the Pope was condoning
his historical revisionist views.
Islam
Pope Benedict's relations with Islam were strained at times. On
12 September 2006 Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture which touched
on Islam at the University of Regensburg in Germany. The Pope had
previously served as professor of theology at the university, and
his lecture was entitled "Faith, Reason and the University—Memories
and Reflections". The lecture received much attention from
political and religious authorities. Many Islamic politicians and
religious leaders registered their protest against what they said
was an insulting mischaracterisation of Islam, although his focus
was aimed towards the rationality of religious violence, and its
effect on the religion. Muslims were particularly offended by the
following quotation from the Pope's speech:
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there
you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command
to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The passage originally appeared in the Dialogue Held with a Certain
Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia written in
1391 as an expression of the views of the Byzantine emperor Manuel
II Paleologus, one of the last Christian rulers before the Fall
of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottoman Empire, on such issues as
forced conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith
and reason. According to the German text, the Pope's original comment
was that the emperor "addresses his interlocutor in an astoundingly
harsh—to us surprisingly harsh—way" (wendet er sich in erstaunlich
schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form). Pope Benedict apologised
for any offence he had caused and made a point of visiting Turkey,
a predominantly Muslim country, and praying in its Blue Mosque.
Pope Benedict XVI planned on 5 March 2008, to meet with Muslim
scholars and religious leaders autumn 2008 at a Catholic-Muslim
seminar in Rome. That meeting, the "First Meeting of the Catholic-Muslim
Forum," was held from 4–6 November 2008.
On 9 May 2009 H.H. Pope Benedict XVI visited the King Hussein Mosque,
Amman, Jordan where he was addressed by H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin
Muhammad bin Talal.
Tibetan Buddhism
The Dalai Lama congratulated Pope Benedict XVI upon his election,
and visited him in October 2006 in the Vatican City. In 2007 China
was accused of using its political influence to stop a meeting between
the Pope and the Dalai Lama.
Indigenous American beliefs
While visiting Brazil in May 2007, "the pope sparked controversy
by saying that native populations had been 'silently longing' for
the Christian faith brought to South America by colonizers."
The Pope continued, stating that "the proclamation of Jesus
and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of
the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign
culture." President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez demanded an apology,
and an indigenous organisation in Ecuador issued a response which
stated that "representatives of the Catholic Church of those
times, with honourable exceptions, were accomplices, deceivers and
beneficiaries of one of the most horrific genocides of all humanity."
Later, the Pope, speaking Italian, said at a weekly audience that
it was:
"not possible to forget the suffering and the injustices
inflicted by colonizers against the indigenous population, whose
fundamental human rights were often trampled."
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
While visiting the United States on 17 April 2008, Benedict met
with International Society for Krishna Consciousness representative
Radhika Ramana Dasa; a notable Hindu scholar and disciple of Hanumatpreshaka
Swami. On behalf of the Hindu American community, Radhika Ramana
Dasa presented a gift of an Om symbol to Benedict.
Apostolic ministry
As pontiff, Benedict XVI carried out numerous Apostolic activities
including journeys across the world and in the Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI in a Mercedes-Benz
popemobile in São Paulo, Brazil
Benedict travelled extensively during the first three years of
his papacy. In addition to his travels within Italy, Pope Benedict
XVI made two visits to his homeland, Germany, one for World Youth
Day and another to visit the towns of his childhood. He also visited
Poland and Spain, where he was enthusiastically received. His visit
to Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, was initially overshadowed
by the controversy about a lecture he had given at Regensburg. His
visit was met by nationalist and Islamic protesters and was placed
under unprecedented security measures. However, the trip went ahead
and Benedict made a joint declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I in an attempt to begin to heal the rift between the
Catholic and Orthodox churches.
In 2007, Pope Benedict visited Brazil in order to address the Bishops'
Conference there and canonize Friar Antônio Galvão, an 18th century
Franciscan. In June 2007, Benedict made a personal pilgrimage and
pastoral visit to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis. In September,
Benedict undertook a three-day visit to Austria, during which he
joined Vienna's Chief Rabbi, Paul Chaim Eisenberg, in a memorial
to the 65,000 Viennese Jews who perished in Nazi death camps. During
his stay in Austria, he also celebrated Mass at the Marian shrine
Mariazell and visited Heiligenkreuz Abbey.
In April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to the United
States since becoming pope. He arrived in Washington, DC where he
was formally received at the White House and met privately with
U.S. President George W. Bush. While in Washington, the pope addressed
representatives of US Catholic universities, met with leaders of
other world religions, and celebrated Mass at the Washington Nationals'
baseball stadium with 47,000 people. The Pope also met privately
with victims of sexual abuse by priests. The Pope travelled to New
York where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Also
while in New York, the Pope celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral,
met with disabled children and their families, and attended an event
for Catholic youth, where he addressed some 25,000 young people
in attendance. On the final day of the Pope's visit, he visited
the World Trade Center site and later celebrated Mass at Yankee
Stadium.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates his 81st
birthday with U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura.
The White House, Washington D.C.
In July 2008, the Pope travelled to Australia to attend World Youth
Day 2008 in Sydney. On 19 July, in St. Mary's Cathedral, he made
an apology for child sex abuse perpetrated by the clergy in Australia.
On 13 September 2008, at an outdoor Paris Mass attended by 250,000
people, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the modern materialism – the
world's love of power, possessions and money as a modern-day plague,
comparing it to paganism.
In 2009, he visited Africa (Cameroon and Angola) for the first
time as pope. During his visit, he suggested that altering sexual
behavior was the answer to Africa's AIDS crisis, and urged Catholics
to reach out and convert believers in sorcery.
He visited the Middle East (Jordan, Israel and Palestine) in May
2009.
Pope Benedict's main arena for pastoral activity was the Vatican
itself, his Christmas and Easter homilies and Urbi et Orbi are delivered
from St Peter's Basilica. The Vatican is also the only regular place
where Benedict XVI traveled via motor without the protective bulletproof
case common to most popemobiles. Despite the more secure setting
Pope Benedict was victim to security risks several times inside
Vatican City. On Wednesday, 6 June 2007 during his General Audience
a man leapt across a barrier, evaded guards and nearly mounted the
Pope's vehicle, although he was stopped and Benedict seemed to be
unaware of the event. On Thursday, 24 December 2009, while Pope
Benedict was proceeding to the altar to celebrate Christmas Eve
Mass at St Peter's Basilica, a woman later identified as 25-year-old
Susanna Maiolo, who holds Italian and Swiss citizenships, jumped
the barrier and grabbed the Pope by his vestments and pulled him
to the ground. The 82-year-old fell but was assisted to his feet
and he continued to proceed towards the altar to celebrate Mass.
Roger Etchegaray, 87, the vice-dean of the College of Cardinals,
fell also and suffered a hip fracture. Italian police reported that
the woman had previously attempted to accost the Pope at the previous
Christmas Eve Mass, but was prevented from doing so.
In his homily, Pope Benedict forgave Susanna Maiolo and urged the
world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs,
and find time for God and spiritual matters.
Between 17 and 18 April, Pope Benedict made an Apostolic Journey
to the Republic of Malta. Following meetings with various dignitaries
on his first day on the island, 50,000 people gathered in a drizzle
for Papal Mass on the granaries in Floriana. The Pope also met with
the Maltese youth at the Valletta Waterfront, where an estimated
10,000 young people turned up to greet him. During his visit the
Pope was moved to tears while expressing his shame at cases of abuse
on the island during a 20-minute meeting with victims.
Pope Benedict XVI in Balzan, Malta
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church
Prior to 2001, the primary responsibility for investigating allegations
of sexual abuse and disciplining perpetrators rested with the individual
dioceses. In 2001, Ratzinger convinced John Paul II to put the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith in charge of all investigations and
policies surrounding sexual abuse in order to combat such abuse
more efficiently. According to John L. Allen, Jr., Ratzinger in
the following years "acquired a familiarity with the contours
of the problem that virtually no other figure in the Catholic Church
can claim" and "driven by that encounter with what he
would later refer to as 'filth' in the Church, Ratzinger seems to
have undergone something of a 'conversion experience' throughout
2003–04. From that point forward, he and his staff seemed driven
by a convert's zeal to clean up the mess". In his role as Head
of the CDF, he "led important changes made in Church law: the
inclusion in canon law of internet offences against children, the
extension of child abuse offences to include the sexual abuse of
all under 18, the case by case waiving of the statute of limitation
and the establishment of a fast-track dismissal from the clerical
state for offenders." As the Head of the CDF, Ratzinger developed
a reputation for handling these cases. According to Charles J. Scicluna,
a former prosecutor handling sexual abuse cases, "Cardinal
Ratzinger displayed great wisdom and firmness in handling those
cases, also demonstrating great courage in facing some of the most
difficult and thorny cases, sine acceptione personarum (without
exceptions)".
One of the cases Ratzinger pursued involved Father Marcial Maciel
Degollado, a Mexican priest and founder of the Legion of Christ,
who had been accused repeatedly of sexual abuse. Biographer Andrea
Tornielli suggested that Cardinal Ratzinger had wanted to take action
against Marcial Maciel Degollado, but that John Paul II and other
high-ranking officials, including several cardinals and notably
the Pope's influential secretary Stanisław Dziwisz, prevented him
from doing so. According to Jason Berry, Angelo Sodano "pressured"
Cardinal Ratzinger, who was "operating on the assumption that
the charges were not justified", to halt the proceedings against
Maciel in 1999 When Maciel was honored by the Pope in 2004, new
accusers came forward and Cardinal Ratzinger "took it on himself
to authorize an investigation of Maciel" After Ratzinger became
pope he began proceedings against Maciel and the Legion of Christ
that forced Maciel out of active service in the Church. On 1 May
2010 the Vatican issued a statement denouncing Maciel's "very
serious and objectively immoral acts", which were "confirmed
by incontrovertible testimonies" and represent "true crimes
and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment."
Pope Benedict also said he would appoint a special commission to
examine the Legionaries’ constitution and open an investigation
into its lay affiliate Regnum Christi. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn
explained that Ratzinger "made entirely clear efforts not to
cover things up but to tackle and investigate them. This was not
always met with approval in the Vatican". According to Schönborn,
Cardinal Ratzinger had pressed John Paul II to investigate Hans
Hermann Groër, an Austrian cardinal and friend of John Paul accused
of sexual abuse, resulting in Groër's resignation.
In March 2010, the Pope sent a Pastoral Letter to the Catholic
Church in Ireland addressing cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests
to minors, expressing sorrow, and promising changes in the way accusations
of abuse are dealt with. Victim groups claim the letter failed to
clarify if secular law enforcement has priority over canon law confidentiality
pertaining to internal investigation of abuse allegations. The Pope
then promised to introduce measures that would 'safeguard young
people in the future' and 'bring to justice' priests who were responsible
for abuse. In April, the Vatican issued guidelines on how existing
Church law should be implemented. The guideline dictates that "Civil
law concerning reporting of crimes... should always be followed."
The guideline was intended to follow the norms established by U.S.
bishops, but it does not require the reporting of "allegations"
or crimes where reporting is not required by law.
Attire
Pope Benedict XVI re-introduced several papal garments which had
previously fallen into disuse. Pope Benedict XVI resumed the use
of the traditional red papal shoes, which had been used since Roman
times by popes but which had fallen into disuse during the pontificate
of Pope John Paul II. Contrary to the initial speculation of the
press that the shoes had been made by the Italian fashion house
Prada, the Vatican announced that the shoes were provided by the
Pope's personal shoemaker.
Pope Benedict XVI wearing Cappello Romano
during an open-air Mass in 2007
On 21 December 2005, the Pope once only wore the camauro, the traditional
red papal hat usually worn in the winter. It had not been seen since
the pontificate of Pope John XXIII (1958–1963). On 6 September 2006,
the Pope began wearing the red cappello romano (also called a saturno),
a wide-brimmed hat for outdoor use. Rarely used by John Paul II,
it was more widely worn by his predecessors.
Charlotte Allen describes Benedict as "the pope of aesthetics":
"He has reminded a world that looks increasingly ugly and debased
that there is such a thing as the beautiful—whether it's embodied
in a sonata or an altarpiece or an embroidered cope or the cut of
a cassock—and that earthly beauty ultimately communicates a beauty
that is beyond earthly things."
Pope Benedict XVI in choir dress with
the red summer papal mozzetta, embroidered red stole, and the red
papal shoes.
Health
Prior to his election as pope in 2005, Ratzinger had hoped to retire—on
account of age-related health problems, a long-held desire to have
free time to write, and the retirement age for bishops (75)—and
submitted his resignation as Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith three times, but continued at his post in
obedience to the wishes of Pope John Paul II. In September 1991,
Ratzinger suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, which slightly impaired
his eyesight temporarily but he recovered completely. This was never
officially made public—the official news was that Ratzinger had
fallen and struck his head against a radiator—but was an open secret
known to the conclave that elected him pope.
Since his election in April 2005 there were several rumors about
the Pope's health, but none of them was confirmed. Early in his
pontificate Benedict XVI predicted a short reign, which led to concerns
about his health. In May 2005 the Vatican announced that he had
suffered another mild stroke. French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin
said that since the first stroke Ratzinger had been suffering from
an age-related heart condition, for which he was on medication.
In late November 2006 Vatican insiders told the international press
that the Pope had had a routine examination of the heart. A few
days later an unconfirmed rumor emerged that Pope Benedict had undergone
an operation in preparation for an eventual bypass operation, but
this rumor was only published by a small left-wing Italian newspaper
and was never confirmed by any Vatican insider.
On 17 July 2009 Benedict was hospitalized after falling and breaking
his right wrist while on vacation in the Alps; his injuries were
reported to be minor.
Following the announcement of his resignation, the Vatican revealed
that Pope Benedict had been fitted with a pacemaker while he was
still a cardinal, before his election as pope in 2005. The battery
in the pacemaker had been replaced three months earlier, a routine
procedure, but that did not influence the decision.
Resignation
On 11 February 2013, the Vatican confirmed that Benedict XVI would
resign the papacy on 28 February 2013, as a result of his advanced
age, becoming the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
The move was considered unexpected. In modern times, all popes have
stayed in office until death. Benedict is the first pope to have
resigned without external pressure since Celestine V in 1294.
In a statement, Benedict cited his deteriorating strength and the
physical and mental demands of the papacy; addressing his Cardinals
in Latin, Benedict gave a brief statement announcing his resignation.
He also declared that he would continue to serve the church "through
a life dedicated to prayer".
According to a statement from the Vatican, the timing of the resignation
was not caused by any specific illness but was to "avoid that
exhausting rush of Easter engagements".
On the appointed day and hour, and after two weeks of ceremonial
farewells, the Pope left office and the time of sede vacante was
declared.
Pope Emeritus
On the morning of February 28, 2013, Pope Benedict met with the
full college of cardinals, and in the early afternoon flew by helicopter
to the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, where he waited
for his resignation to take effect. There he will stay until after
the conclave to elect a successor completes its task. Afterwards
he will return to the Vatican, where the monastery Mater Ecclesiae
located in the Vatican Gardens will serve as a retirement home.
After his resignation, Benedict XVI retains his papal name rather
than reverting to usage of his birth name, Joseph Ratzinger. He
is known as His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope emeritus. Regarding
clothing and apparel, Benedict XVI continues to wear white garments,
but without the cape that covers the shoulders. He also ceased wearing
red papal shoes. Benedict XVI will also give up his Fisherman's
Ring, which is usually destroyed by Vatican officials on the event
of the death of a pope to prevent counterfeit documents.
According to Vatican spokesman, he spent the first day as pope
emeritus with Archbishop Georg Gänswein and, among other activities,
watched the news in Italian.
Titles and styles
The official style of the former pope is His Holiness Benedict
XVI, Pope Emeritus, in Latin, pontifex emeritus.
As pope, his rarely used full title was: His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of
the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of
Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province, Sovereign
of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.
Before 1 March 2006, the list of titles also used to contain that
of a "Patriarch of the West", which traditionally appeared
in that list of titles before "Primate of Italy". The
title of "Patriarch of the West" was first adopted in
the year 642 by Pope Theodore I, but was rarely used since the East-West
Schism of 1054. From the Orthodox perspective, authority in the
Church could be traced to the five patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. However, some Catholic theologians
have argued that the term "Patriarch of the West" has
no clear historical or theological basis and was introduced into
the papal court in 1870 at the time of the First Vatican Council.
Pope Benedict chose to remove the title at a time when discussions
with the Orthodox churches have centered on the issue of papal primacy.
Positions on moral and political issues
Birth control and HIV/AIDS
In 2005, the Pope listed several ways to combat the spread of HIV,
including chastity, fidelity in marriage and anti-poverty efforts;
he also rejected the use of condoms. The alleged Vatican investigation
of whether there are any cases when married persons may use condoms
to protect against the spread of infections surprised many Catholics
in the wake of John Paul II's consistent refusal to consider condom
use in response to AIDS. However, the Vatican has since stated that
no such change in the Church's teaching can occur. TIME also reported
in its 30 April 2006 edition that the Vatican's position remains
what it always has been with Vatican officials "flatly dismiss[ing]
reports that the Vatican is about to release a document that will
condone any condom use."
In March 2009, the Pope stated:
I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome merely
with money, necessary though it is. If there is no human dimension,
if Africans do not help, the problem cannot be overcome by the distribution
of prophylactics: on the contrary, they increase it. The solution
must have two elements: firstly, bringing out the human dimension
of sexuality, that is to say a spiritual and human renewal that
would bring with it a new way of behaving towards others, and secondly,
true friendship offered above all to those who are suffering, a
willingness to make sacrifices and to practise self-denial, to be
alongside the suffering.
In November 2010, in a book-length interview, the Pope, using the
example of male prostitutes, stated that the use of condoms, with
the intention of reducing the risk of HIV infection, may be an indication
that the prostitute is intending to reduce the evil connected with
his or her immoral activity. In the same interview, the Pope also
reiterated the traditional teaching of the Church that condoms are
not seen as a "real or moral solution" to the HIV/AIDS
pandemic. Further, in December 2010, the Congregation of the Doctrine
of the Faith explained that the Pope's statement did not constitute
a legitimization of either prostitution or contraception, both of
which remain gravely immoral.
Homosexuality
During his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith (CDF), Benedict XVI made several efforts to tackle
the issue of homosexuality within the Church and the wider world.
In 1986 the CDF sent a letter to all bishops entitled: On the Pastoral
Care of Homosexual Persons. The letter condemned a liberal interpretation
of the earlier CDF document Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning
Sexual Ethics, which had led to a "benign" attitude "to
the homosexual condition itself". On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual
Persons clarified that the Church's position on homosexuality was
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." However the document
also condemned homophobic attacks and violence, stating that "It
is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object
of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves
condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs."
In 1992 he again approved CDF documents declaring that homosexual
"inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder"
and extended this principle to civil law. "Sexual orientation",
the document said, was not equivalent to race or ethnicity, and
it declared that it was "not unjust discrimination to take
sexual orientation into account."
On 22 December 2008, the Pope gave an end of year message to the
Roman Curia in which he talked about gender and the important distinction
between men and women. The Pope said that the church viewed the
distinction as central to human nature, and "asks that this
order, set down by creation, be respected". He characterised
gender roles which deviated from his view of what gender roles should
be as "a violation of the natural order". The church,
he said, "should protect man from the destruction of himself".
He said a sort of ecology of man was needed, adding: "The tropical
forests do deserve our protection; but man, as a creature, does
not deserve any less." He attacked what he described as gender
theories which "lead towards the self-emancipation of man from
creation and the creator".
LGBT groups such as the Italian Arcigay and German LSVD have announced
that they found the Pope's comments homophobic. Aurelio Mancuso,
head of Arcigay, saying "A divine programme for men and women
is out of line with nature, where the roles are not so clear."
Father Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, claimed the Pope
had not wished specifically to attack homosexuality, and had not
mentioned gays or lesbians in his text. Father Lombardi insisted,
however, that there had been an overreaction to the Pope's remarks:
"He was speaking more generally about gender theories which
overlook the fundamental difference in creation between men and
women and focus instead on cultural conditioning." Nevertheless,
the remarks were interpreted as a call to save mankind from homosexuals
and transsexuals.
Same-sex marriage
During a 2012 Christmas speech, the Pope made remarks about the
present-day interpretation of the notion of "gender".
He stated that "sex is no longer a given element of nature,
that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social
role that we choose for ourselves", and "The words of
the creation account: “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27)
no longer apply". Although he didn't mention the topic, his
words were interpreted by news media as denunciations of same-sex
marriage, with some sources adding that Benedict would have called
it a threat to world peace similar to abortion and euthanasia. In
March 2012, he stated that heterosexual marriages should be defended
from "every possible misrepresentation of their true nature".
International relations
Migrants and refugees In a message released 14
November 2006, during a Vatican press conference for the 2007 annual
observance of World Day for Migrants and Refugees, the Pope urged
the ratification of international conventions and policies that
defend all migrants, including refugees, exiles, evacuees, and internally
displaced persons. "The church encourages the ratification
of the international legal instruments that aim to defend the rights
of migrants, refugees and their families," the Pope said. "Much
is already being done for the integration of the families of immigrants,
although much still remains to be done."
Benedict with President of Russia Vladimir
Putin on 13 March 2007
Pope Benedict also promoted various UN events, such as World Refugee
Day, on which he offered up special prayers for refugees and called
for the international community to do more to secure refugees' human
rights. He also called on Catholic communities and organizations
to offer them concrete help.
China
In 2007 Benedict sent a letter at Easter to Catholics in China
that could have wide-ranging implications for the church's relationship
with China's leadership. The letter provides long-requested guidance
to Chinese bishops on how to respond to illicitly ordained bishops,
as well as how to strengthen ties with the Patriotic Association
and the Communist government.
Korea
On 13 November 2006, Benedict said that the dispute over the North
Korea nuclear weapons program should be resolved through negotiations,
in his first public comment on the security issue, a news report
said. "The Holy See encourages bilateral or multilateral negotiations,
convinced that the solution must be sought through peaceful means
and in respect for agreements taken by all sides to obtain the denuclearisation
of the Korean Peninsula." Benedict was talking to the new Japanese
ambassador to the Vatican.
Turkey
In a 2004 Le Figaro interview, Ratzinger said that Turkey, which
is demographically Muslim but governmentally secular by virtue of
its state constitution, should seek its future in an association
of Muslim nations rather than the European Union, which Ratzinger
stated has Christian roots. He said Turkey had always been "in
permanent contrast to Europe and that linking it to Europe would
be a mistake".
Later visiting the country to "reiterate the solidarity between
the cultures," it was reported that he made a counter-statement
backing Turkey's bid to join the EU. Prime Minister of Turkey Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan, said that the Pope told him in their meeting that
while the Vatican seeks to stay out of politics it desires Turkey's
membership in the EU. However, the Common Declaration of Pope Benedict
XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople implied that support
for Turkey's membership in the European Union would be contingent
on the establishment of religious freedom in Turkey: "In every
step towards unification, minorities must be protected, with their
cultural traditions and the distinguishing features of their religion."
The Declaration also reiterates Pope Benedict XVI's call for Europe
to preserve its Christian roots.
Israel
In May 2009 he visited Israel. This was the third Papal visit to
the Holy Land, the previous ones being made by Pope Paul VI in 1964
and Pope John Paul II in 2000.
Vietnam
Pope Benedict XVI and Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng met at the
Vatican on 25 January 2007 in a "new and important step towards
establishing diplomatic ties". The Pope met with President
Nguyễn Minh Triết on 11 December 2009. Vatican officials called
the meeting "a significant stage in the progress of bilateral
relations with Vietnam."
Global economy
In 2009, the Pope intervened in global economic and political affairs
with his third encyclical, Charity in Truth (Latin Caritas in Veritate),
which can be viewed on the Vatican's web site. The document sets
out the Pope's position on the case for worldwide redistribution
of wealth in considerable detail and goes on to discuss the environment,
migration, terrorism, sexual tourism, bioethics, energy and population
issues. The Financial Times reported that Benedict XVI's advocacy
for a fairer redistribution of wealth helped set the agenda for
the 2009 July G8 summit.
Also included in Charity in Truth is advocacy for tax choice:
One possible approach to development aid would be to apply effectively
what is known as fiscal subsidiarity, allowing citizens to decide
how to allocate a portion of the taxes they pay to the State. Provided
it does not degenerate into the promotion of special interests,
this can help to stimulate forms of welfare solidarity from below,
with obvious benefits in the area of solidarity for development
as well.
Nuclear energy
Pope Benedict XVI called for nuclear disarmament. At the same time,
he supported the peaceful use of nuclear energy as a tool for development
and the fight against poverty. In his message for the 50th anniversary
of the founding of the International Atomic Energy Agency, he confirmed:
"The Holy See, fully approving of the IAEA's goal, has been
a member from the organisation's foundation and continues to support
its activity."
Interests
Benedict is known to be deeply interested in classical music, and
is an accomplished pianist. The Pontiff Emeritus' favorite composer
is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, of whose music the Pope said, "His
music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy
of human existence." Benedict also stated that Mozart's music
affected him greatly as a young man and "deeply penetrated
his soul". Benedict's favorite works of music are Mozart's
Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet.
Pope Benedict XVI after a musical concert
offered to his honor. circa 2008.
Benedict recorded an album of contemporary classical music in which
Benedict sings and recites prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The
album was set for release on 30 November 2009.
Benedict is also known to be fond of cats. As Cardinal Ratzinger
he was known (according to former neighbours) to look after stray
cats in his neighbourhood. A book called Joseph and Chico: A Cat
Recounts the Life of Pope Benedict XVI was published in 2007 which
told the story of the Pope's life from the feline Chico's perspective.
This story was inspired by an orange tabby Pentling cat, which belonged
to the family next door. During his trip to Australia for World
Youth Day in 2008 the media reported that festival organizers lent
the Pope a grey cat called Bella in order to keep him company during
his stay.
The Pope has a pilot's license and enjoys flying the papal helicopter.
However, he never got a driver’s license.
Social networking
In December 2012, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI
had joined social networking website Twitter, under the handle @Pontifex.
His first tweet was made on 12 December and was "Dear friends,
I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you
for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart."
On 28 February 2013, the day he retired, the tweets were deleted,
and @Pontifex read "Sede Vacante".
Honours and awards
As pope, Benedict was Grand Master of the following orders: Supreme
Order of Christ, Order of the Golden Spur, Order of Pius IX, Equestrian
Order of St. Gregory the Great and the Order of St. Sylvester.
Medallion in Saint Paul Outside the
Walls
1977 Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of the Republic
of Ecuador
1977 Knight Grand Cross of the Bavarian Order of Merit
1985 Grand Merit Cross with Star and Sash of the Federal Republic
of Germany
1985 Constitutional Medal of the Bavarian State Parliament in
Gold
1989 Ordine della Minerva at the University of Chieti
1989 Augustin Bea Prize (Rome)
1989 Karl-Valentin-Orden (Munich)
1991 Leopold Kunschak Prize (Vienna)
1991 Georg von Hertling Medal of Kartellverband katholischer deutscher
Studentenvereine
1992 Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services
to the Republic of Austria
1992 Literature Prize Capri S. Michele in Anacapri
1992 Premio Internazionale di Cultura Cattolica, Bassano del Grappa
1993 literary prize Premio Letterario Basilicata per la Letteratura
e Poesia religiosa Spirituale in Potenza (Italy)
1996 Knight of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
1998 Commander of the Legion of Honour (Legion d'Honneur) (France)
1999 Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta
2002 Liberal Trieste
2004 Literature Prize Capri S. Michele in Anacapri
Honorary doctorates
1984 University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; Honorary
Doctor of Human Letters)
1986 Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (Pontifical Catholic
University of Peru)
1987 Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
1988 Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski (Catholic University of Lublin,
Poland)
1998 University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain)
1999 Libera Università Maria SS Assunta Roma (Maria SS Assunta
Free University, Rome) (honorary degree in law)
2000 Uniwersytet Wrocławski (University of Wroclaw, Poland; Honorary
Doctor of Theology)
2005 Universatea Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca (Babeș-Bolyai University)
Honorary citizenships
1987 Pentling, near Regensburg, location of his main German
residence
1997 Marktl, his birthplace
2005 Traunstein, location of the school and the study seminar
he attended
2006 Altötting, in Bavaria
2006 Regensburg, worked as a full, later as a visiting, professor
2006 Aschau am Inn, started school and received Mass for the first
time
2007 Tittmoning, where he spent part of his childhood
2008 Brixen, where he holidayed several times as a cardinal and
as pope
2009 Mariazell, whose sanctuary he visited in 2007 as pope
2009 Introd in the Aosta Valley, where he spent some of his summer
holidays in 2005, 2006 and 2009
2010 Romano Canavese, in Piedmont
2010 Freising, where he studied, was ordained a priest in 1951,
where he served from 1954–1957 lecturer at the Philosophical and
Theological College and worked from 1977 to 1982 as archbishop
of Munich and Freising
2011 Natz-Schabs in South Tyrol; Benedict's grandmother Maria
Tauber Peintner and his great-grandmother Elisabeth Maria Tauber
both come from Natz-Schabs
The asteroid 8661 Ratzinger was named in his honor for the role
he played in supervising the opening of Vatican archives in 1998
to researchers investigating judicial errors against Galileo and
other medieval scientists. The name was proposed by the asteroid's
first discoverers, L. D. Schmadel and F. Borngen at Tautenburg.
Writings
Pope Benedict XVI wrote 66 books. The following is a list of books
written by Pope Benedict XVI arranged chronologically by English
first edition. The original German first edition publication year
is included in parentheses.
Theological Highlights of Vatican II. New York: Paulist Press.
1966 (1963). ISBN 978-0-8091-4610-9.
Introduction to Christianity. London: Burns & Oats. 1968 (1968).
ISBN 978-0-223-97705-1.
Faith and Future. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press. 1971 (1970).
ISBN 978-1-58617-219-0.
The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune God. Chicago:
Franciscan Herald Press. 1978 (1977). ISBN 978-1-58617-184-1.
Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church's Marian Belief. Chicago:
Franciscan Herald Press. 1983 (1977). ISBN 978-0-89870-026-8.
Dogma and Preaching. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press. 1985 (1973).
ISBN 978-1-58617-327-2.
Principles of Christian Morality. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
1986 (1975). ISBN 978-0-89870-086-2.
Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 1986 (1981). ISBN 978-0-89870-056-5.
The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the
Church. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1986 (1985). ISBN 978-0-89870-080-0.
Seek That Which Is Above: Meditations through the Year. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 1986 (1985). ISBN 978-1-58617-187-2.
Behold the Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology.
San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1986 (1984). ISBN 978-0-89870-087-9.
The Blessing of Christmas: Meditations for the Season. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 1986. ISBN 978-1-58617-172-8.
Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental
Theology. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1987 (1982). ISBN 978-0-89870-215-6.
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life. Washington DC: Catholic University
of America Press. 1988 (1977). ISBN 978-0-8132-1516-7.
Church, Ecumenism and Politics: New Essays in Ecclesiology. New
York: Crossroad. 1988 (1987). ISBN 978-1-58617-217-6.
Ministers of Your Joy: Scriptural Meditations on Priestly Spirituality.
Ann Arbor: Redeemer Books. 1989 (1988). ISBN 978-0-89283-654-3.
The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure. Chicago: Franciscan
Herald Press. 1989 (1959). ISBN 978-0-8199-0415-7.
To Look on Christ: Exercises in Faith, Hope, and Love. New York:
Crossroad. 1991 (1989). ISBN 978-0-8245-1064-0.
A Turning Point for Europe?. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1994
(1991). ISBN 978-1-58617-349-4.
The Nature and Mission of Theology: Essays to Orient Theology
in Today's Debates. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1995 (1993).
ISBN 978-0-89870-538-6.
In the Beginning...: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of
Creation and the Fall. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing. 1995
(1986). ISBN 978-0-8028-4106-3.
Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 1996 (1991). ISBN 978-0-89870-578-2.
A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ in Liturgy Today. New
York: Crossroad. 1997 (1995). ISBN 978-0-8245-1536-2.
Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium. San
Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1997 (1996). ISBN 978-0-89870-640-6.
Milestones: Memoirs 1927–1977. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
1998 (1997). ISBN 978-0-89870-702-1.
Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, the Church, and the World.
San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1999 (1997). ISBN 978-0-89870-753-3.
The Spirit of the Liturgy. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2000
(2000). ISBN 978-0-89870-784-7.
God and the World. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2002 (2000).
ISBN 978-0-89870-868-4.
God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 2003 (2001). ISBN 978-0-89870-962-9.
Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions. San
Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2004 (2003). ISBN 978-1-58617-035-6.
Introduction to Christianity (revised edition). San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 2004 (1968). ISBN 978-1-58617-029-5.
Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith: The Church as Communion. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 2005 (2002). ISBN 978-0-89870-963-6.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Washington
DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 2005. ISBN 978-1-57455-720-6.
Mary: The Church at the Source. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
2005 (1997). ISBN 978-1-58617-018-9.
Way of the Cross. Boston: Pauline Books & Media. 2005. ISBN
978-0-8198-8308-7.
On the Way to Jesus Christ. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2005.
ISBN 978-1-58617-124-7.
Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press. 2006 (2005). ISBN 978-1-58617-142-1.
Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press. 2006 (1983). ISBN 978-1-58617-143-8.
Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feasts. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press. 2006 (1997). ISBN 978-0-89870-964-3.
God's Revolution: Pope Benedict XVI's Cologne Talks. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 2006 (2004). ISBN 978-1-58617-145-2.
Values in a Time of Upheaval. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2006
(2004). ISBN 978-0-8245-2373-2.
God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
2006 (2006). ISBN 978-1-58617-163-6.
What It Means to Be a Christian. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
2006 (1965). ISBN 978-1-58617-133-9.
Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam. San
Francisco: Basic Books. 2006. ISBN 978-0-465-00627-4.
On Conscience. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2007 (1984). ISBN
978-1-58617-160-5.
Europe: Today and Tomorrow. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2007
(2004). ISBN 978-1-58617-134-6.
New Outpourings of the Spirit. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
2007 (2006). ISBN 978-1-58617-181-0.
Jesus of Nazareth. New York: Doubleday. 2007 (2007). ISBN 978-0-385-52341-7.
Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press. 2007. ISBN 978-1-58617-220-6.
God's Word: Scripture, Tradition, Office. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press. 2008 (2005). ISBN 978-1-58617-179-7.
Saved in Hope: Spe Salvi. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2008
(2007). ISBN 978-1-58617-251-0.
The Fathers. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2008. ISBN 978-1-59276-440-2.
Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press. 2008. ISBN 978-1-58617-245-9.
Charity in Truth: Caritas in Veritate. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press. 2009 (2009). ISBN 978-1-58617-280-0.
Saint Paul. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2009 (2009). ISBN
978-1-58617-367-8.
The Joy of Knowing Christ: Meditations on the Gospels. Frederick:
Word Among Us Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-59325-151-2.
Light of the World: The Pope, The Church, and the Signs of the
Times. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-58617-606-8.
The Fathers, Volume II. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2010.
ISBN 978-1-59276-783-0.
The Apostles. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59276-799-1.
The Virtues. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59276-794-6.
Great Teachers. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2011. ISBN 978-1-59276-536-2.
Holiness Is Always in Season. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2011.
ISBN 978-1-58617-444-6.
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor.
2011. ISBN 978-1-58617-500-9.
Holy Women. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2011. ISBN 978-1-61278-510-3.
Doctors of the Church. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. 2011. ISBN
978-1-61278-576-9.
Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives. Colorado Springs: Image
Books. 2012. ISBN 9780385346405.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI
Re-published from TrueChristianity.info
in March 2013
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