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
Georg Ratzinger (politician) in the "Historisch-politische Blätter". Of his smaller works the following should be mentioned: "Das Concil und die deustche Wissenschaft" (anonymously issued at Mainz, 1872) appeared first in the "Katholik", 1872, I; "Die Erhaltung des Bauernstandes" (Freiburg, 1883). His nephew was the police officer Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., father of Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger) and Georg Ratzinger, the priest and church musician. Georg Ratzinger (politician) Georg Ratzinger (April 3, 1844 in Rickering at Deggendorf – December 3, 1899 in Munich) was a German Catholic priest, political economist, social reformer, author and politician. He saw the gospel and Catholic social teaching