Pope Benedict XVI Bio, Age, Parents, Siblings, Net Worth – Pope Benedict XVI is a retired Catholic Church prelate who served as the Church’s head and the sovereign of the Vatican City State from April 19, 2005, until his resignation on February 28, 2013.

Benedict was elected Pope in the 2005 papal conclave, which followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known as “Pope Emeritus” after resigning.

Pope Benedict XVI Biography

Pope Benedict was among a group of children who presented flowers to Cardinal Archbishop of Munich Michael von Faulhaber when he was five years old.

He later announced that he wanted to be a cardinal after being struck by the cardinal’s distinctive garb. He attended the Aschau am Inn elementary school, which was renamed in his honor in 2009.

His family, particularly his father, despised the Nazis, and his father’s opposition to Nazism resulted in family demotions and harassment.

He was conscripted into the Hitler Youth after his 14th birthday in 1941, as membership was required by law for all 14-year-old German boys after March 1939, but he was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings, according to his brother.

In November 1945, he and his brother Georg entered Saint Michael Seminary in Traunstein, and later studied at the Ducal Georgianum of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.

They were both ordained on June 29, 1951, in Freising by Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Munich, whom Ratzinger had met as a child.

His dissertation on Augustine of Hippo, titled The People and the House of God in Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church, was completed in 1953. His habilitation (qualification for a professorship) was completed at Bonaventure.

It was completed in 1957, and he began teaching at Freising College in 1958. Pope Benedict was deeply influenced by the ideas of Italian German Romano Guardini, who taught in Munich from 1946 to 1951 while studying in Freising and later at the University of Munich.

The intellectual affinity between these two thinkers, who would later become decisive figures for the twentieth-century Catholic Church, was preoccupied with rediscovering the essentials in Christianity: Guardini wrote The Essence of Christianity in 1938, while Ratzinger wrote Introduction to Christianity in 1968, three decades later.

In 1951, he began working as a chaplain at the parish of St. Martin, Moosach, in Munich. Pope Benedict became a professor at the University of Bonn in 1959, with his inaugural lecture on “The God of Faith and the God of Philosophy”.

He transferred to the University of Münster in 1963. During this time, he was a peritus (theological consultant) to Cardinal Frings of Cologne and attended the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

He was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising on March 24, 1977, and ordained a bishop on May 28, 1977. Cooperatores veritatis (Latin for “cooperators of the truth”), from the Third Epistle of John, became his episcopal motto, a choice on which he commented in his autobiographical work Milestones.

At the age of 78, Benedict XVI was elected as the 265th Pope. Since Pope Clement XII, he is the oldest person to be elected Pope (1730–1740). He was a cardinal for longer before becoming Pope than any other Pontiff since Benedict XIII (1724–1730).

Benedict and his Polish predecessor John Paul II were the first non-Italian popes to reign consecutively since the Avignon Papacy’s seven consecutive Frenchmen (1309–1378). Benedict XV, an Italian who reigned from 1914 to 1922 during World War I, was the last Pope named Benedict (1914–1918).

He chose the pontifical name Benedict, which comes from the Latin word for “blessed,” to honor both Benedict XV and Benedict of Nursia.

During the First World War, Pope Benedict XV worked tirelessly to bring peace between the warring nations. St. Benedict of Nursia was the founder of the Benedictine monasteries (the Benedictine order was responsible for the majority of monasteries in the Middle Ages) and the author of the Rule of Saint Benedict, which is still the most influential work on the monastic life in Western Christianity.

Benedict made only minor changes to the Roman Curia’s structure. In March 2006, he appointed Cardinal Renato Martino as president of both the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

When Martino retired in 2009, each council was given its own president for the first time. Under Cardinal Paul Poupard, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue was briefly merged into the Pontifical Council for Culture in March 2006.

The Vatican confirmed on 11 February 2013 that Benedict XVI would resign the papacy on 28 February 2013 due to his advanced age, making him the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

Pope Benedict XVI Age

He was born on April 16, 1927, so as of 2022, his age was 95 years.

Pope Benedict XVI Height

He has a height of 1.7 meters.

Pope Benedict XVI Parents

His parents are Maria Ratzinger and Joseph Ratzinger, Sr.

Pope Benedict XVI Siblings

His siblings are Georg Ratzinger and Maria Ratzinger.

Pope Benedict XVI Net Worth

He has an estimated net worth of $5 million.

What was Pope Benedict known for?

Benedict, known for his conservative views, held a doctorate in theology and served as Pope for just over ten years before stepping down, citing his mental and physical health. He was the first pope to resign since the 1400s; normally, popes serve until death.

Can Pope Benedict speak English?

Benedict is fluent in French, Italian, English, and Spanish, in addition to his native German. In addition, he is fluent in Portuguese, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Greek.

Is Pope Benedict the only Pope to resign?

He is not the only Pope to resign, however, he was the first Pope to resign in 600 years.

What religious order is Pope Benedict?

Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, Germany, is the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (2005–13).  Benedict was a distinguished theologian and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before becoming Pope.

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