Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI (; ; ; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger; ; 16 April 1927) served as Pope of the Catholic Church and as sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. The Vatican announced his withdrawal by bestowing him the title Pope Emeritus shortly after his resignation. Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger had established himself as a highly regarded university theologian by the late 1950s and was
Aloisius Joseph Muench convicted war criminals". In particular, he spoke against what he perceived to be the mistreatment of high-ranking prisoners such as Konstantin von Neurath, Erich Raeder, Karl Dönitz, Walther Funk, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Rudolf Hess. He wrote that their treatment was "another terrible blotch on our record for decent, humane treatment of war criminals". "One World" was cited by Josef Hering and other war criminals in their own writings. In at least four instances, Muench became involved in restitution disputes between Catholic Germans and Jews regarding property seized during the war; in each instance, Muench sided with the