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
Ratzinger Circle of Alumni Ratzinger Circle of Alumni The Ratzinger Circle of Alumni is an initiative by former doctoral and post-doctoral students of theologian Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI). The Alumni is composed by former students of the universities of Bonn 1959-1963, Münster 1963-1966, Tübingen 1966-1969 and Regensburg 1969-1977. The former students, most of them distinguished professors today, meet with their professor annually in order to discuss and study with their teacher important theological issues while celebrating their devotion to what they consider a special responsibility for the spiritual heritage of their teacher. The first meeting took place in 1978 and is repeated