Pope Benedict XVI.

Baptized at an Easter Vigil mass on the evening of his birth, Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger grew up in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria. Joseph Ratzinger Sr., his father and a police officer, equated Hitler with the Antichrist, instilling an anti-Nazi stance in the family. Maria Peintner, his mother, made stuffed animals for him that he kept into adulthood. Georg, his brother, became a priest, and Maria, his sister, managed his household until her death in 1991. He studied at the Ducal Georgianum and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, earning a doctorate in theology in 1953 and habilitation in 1957.

Ordained a priest on June 29, 1951, Ratzinger soon became a professor of dogmatics at the University of Bonn in 1959. He participated in the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 as an official council theologian. In March 1977, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and he was made a cardinal that June. Pope John Paul II brought him to Rome in 1981 as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, earning the nickname God’s Rottweiler for his strict enforcement of doctrine. He chaired the commission that produced the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992. On April 19, 2005, after a brief conclave, he was elected pope, taking the name Benedict XVI. As pope, he visited the United States in April 2008, celebrating Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and visiting a synagogue. He published encyclicals such as Deus Caritas Est in 2005 and wrote three volumes on Jesus of Nazareth. On February 11, 2013, he announced his resignation, effective February 28, becoming the first pope to abdicate in 600 years.

After his abdication in 2013, Benedict XVI lived quietly in Vatican City with few public appearances until his death from a long illness on December 31, 2022. He never married, as required by Catholic clergy, but maintained close family ties. His sister Maria managed his household until her death in 1991, and his brother Georg was a priest until his death in 2020. Cardinal Roger Mahony described him as someone who adores cats. He played the piano, preferring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, and kept the stuffed animals his mother made for him throughout his life.

In 2020, Benedict XVI became the longest-lived pope in history, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, though Leo still holds the record for oldest reigning pope. His role as the Vatican’s chief theologian for over two decades under John Paul II shaped church doctrine through the Catechism of the Catholic Church published in 1992. His abdication set a modern precedent for papal resignation. His theological works, including Introduction to Christianity and Faith, Truth, Tolerance, continue to be studied. He was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in the 2019 film The Two Popes and is remembered as a scholar pope who prioritized doctrinal continuity and interfaith engagement, while his handling of the sexual abuse crisis and condom controversy remained points of contention.