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 Advanced Holocaust Studies, published her monograph of the Muench papers in 2006: "The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany". Dr. Brown-Fleming holds a Ph.D. in Modern German History form the University of Maryland, College Park. The monograph has received positive reviews. Prof. Mark Edward Ruff of Saint Louis University calls the work "concise and clearly written", her use of primary sources "often convincing and damning", states Brown-Fleming "deserves kudos for bringing the work and values of Muench, a hitherto neglected figure, to the public eye". Prof. Michael Ott of Grand Valley State University