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
Marktl as symbols of navigation and trade, under the blue and white lozenges of the duchy of Bavaria. Marktl is twinned with: Marktl Marktl, or often unofficially called Marktl am Inn ("Little market on the river Inn"), is a village and historic market municipality in the state of Bavaria, Germany, near the Austrian border, in the Altötting district of Upper Bavaria. The most notable neighbouring town is Altötting. Marktl has approximately 2,700 inhabitants. Marktl is the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI (previously Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger), who succeeded Pope John Paul II as the 265th head of the Roman Catholic Church.