pope bebedict xvi?

Answer 1

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, was born at Marktl am Inn, Diocese of Passau (Germany) on 16 April 1927 (Holy Saturday) and was baptised on the same day. His father, a policeman, belonged to an old family of farmers from Lower Bavaria of modest economic resources. His mother was the daughter of artisans from Rimsting on the shore of Lake Chiem, and before marrying she worked as a cook in a number of hotels.

He spent his childhood and adolescence in Traunstein, a small village near the Austrian border, thirty kilometres from Salzburg. In this environment, which he himself has defined as "Mozartian", he received his Christian, cultural and human formation.

His youthful years were not easy. His faith and the education received at home prepared him for the harsh experience of those years during which the Nazi regime pursued a hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church. The young Joseph saw how some Nazis beat the Parish Priest before the celebration of Mass.

It was precisely during that complex situation that he discovered the beauty and truth of faith in Christ; fundamental for this was his family’s attitude, who always gave a clear witness of goodness and hope, rooted in a convinced attachment to the Church.

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Answer 2

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany and formerly dean of the College of Cardinals. He was elected on 19 April 2005 and held his inauguration mass on 24 April 2005. He is the first pope to have his own email address...

wait, what exactly is your question?

Answer 3

Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany) is the 265th[1] and reigning Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State. He was elected on April 19, 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on April 24, 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on May 7, 2005. Pope Benedict has both German and Vatican citizenship. He succeeded John Paul II, who died in the beginning of April 2005.

One of the best-known theologians since the 1960s, and a prolific author, Benedict is viewed as a staunch defender and steadfast advocate of Catholic traditional doctrine and moral values and their importance in the survival of humanity. He is considered to be conservative and a close ally and friend of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. He served as a professor at various German universities, and was a theological expert at the Second Vatican Council before becoming Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Cardinal. At the time of his election as Pope, Benedict had been Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (curial heads lose their positions upon the death of a pope) and was Dean of the College of Cardinals.

During his papacy, Benedict XVI has particularly emphasized what he sees as a need for Europe to return to fundamental Christian values, in response to increasing de-Christianisation and secularisation in many developed countries. For this reason, he has identified relativism's denial of objective truth as the central problem of the faith, and has taught about the crucial importance for the Catholic Church and humanity to contemplate God's love, and has thus reaffirmed the urgent "importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."

Overview
Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected pope since Clement XII in 1730. He served longer as a cardinal before being elected than any pope since Benedict XIII (elected 1724). He is the ninth German pope, the last being the Dutch-German Adrian VI, who reigned from 1522-1523. The last pope named Benedict was Benedict XV, an Italian who reigned from 1914 to 1922, during World War I.

Born 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany, Benedict had a distinguished career as a university theologian before being appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI, and shortly afterwards made a cardinal 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 also assigned the honorific title of the cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Velletri-Segni on April 5, 1993. In 1998, he was elected sub-dean of the College of Cardinals and on November 30, 2002, 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 in 1555 and the first cardinal bishop elected pope since Pius VIII in 1829.

Before becoming pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was already one of the most influential men in the Roman Curia, and was a close associate of the late John Paul II. As Dean of the College of Cardinals he presided over the funeral of John Paul II and also over the Mass immediately preceding the 2005 conclave in which he was elected, in which 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 maintains the traditional Catholic doctrines on artificial birth control, abortion, and homosexuality while promoting Catholic social teaching.

As well as his native German, Benedict fluently speaks Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin. He can read ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew. His best foreign language is French. He is a member of a large number of academies, such as the French Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart and Beethoven

Answer 4

Is now the Pope...and your question would be?

Answer 5

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