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 of sexual abuse in the early 1960s, predating Ratzinger's tenure from 1964–1994.Der Spiegel has reported that therapists in the region are treating several alleged victims from the choir. A man who lived in the choir-linked boarding school until 1967 has contended that "a sophisticated system of sadistic punishments in connection with sexual lust" had been installed there. "Der Spiegel" quoted the man, a composer Franz Wittenbrink, as saying it would be inexplicable that the pope's brother did not know anything about it. Ratzinger has admitted slapping pupils in the face. He commented: "At the start, I also slapped people in