History of the Catholic Church
With the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the Church largely saw a continuation of the policies of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. However, there were some notable exceptions: Benedict decentralized beatifications and reverted the decision of his predecessor regarding papal elections. In 2007, he set a Church record by approving the beatification of 498 Spanish Martyrs. His first encyclical Deus caritas est discussed love and sex in continued opposition to several other views on sexuality.