Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd at Cologne Airport
About the man who has become
Pope Benedict XVI
By Tara Holmes
Introduction
It was a mild Tuesday evening when the curtain came up on the pontificate of Benedict XVI. White smoke was billowing out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Crowds of people were pressing into St Peter's Square. And millions more across the world had tuned in to find out who had been elected the new Pope.
The world was on tenterhooks as the Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez stepped forward on the balcony above the square on April 19, 2005. "Habemus Papam," he announced, a smile stretching across his face.
Catholics and non-Catholics, Christians and non-Christians across the world had been waiting with bated breath for this moment.
Who would the new pope be? Had the cardinals chosen an Italian, a Latin American or even an African? Would he be liberal or conservative?
And who could possibly step into the shoes of Pope John Paul II, the dynamic, charismatic and radical figure who had dominated the world stage for the past 27 years?
A new pope, a new era
The man chosen for the job was the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. For the last 24 years he had been Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition.
His stern image as the Vatican's enforcer had earned him the nicknames of 'God's Rottweiler' and 'panzer cardinal'. In the words of the veteran journalist and author, Greg Watts, he was seen as "a kind of doctrinal Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Stepping forward and raising his outstretched palms to the crowds, the new Pope addressed the crowd in Italian. "The cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord," he said. "The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act, even with inadequate instruments, comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers."
An emotional response
His election was greeted with a mixture of surprise and disbelief. Those who had hoped for a man who would carry on the legacy of John Paul II were ecstatic. Others who had seen this moment as an opportunity for change reacted with deep disappointment.
The words 'conservative' and 'hardline' featured prominently in the media reports on the papal election. In the British tabloids, the new Pope appeared on their front pages as a "demonised figure" who had once been a member of the Hitler Youth.
What wasn't made clear was that the young Ratzinger had not been an enthusiastic member. And like all young Germans at that time, his membership was compulsory.
The man behind the image
Unlike Pope John Paul II who, at 58, had been the youngest pope to be elected in 100 years, Benedict XVI had just celebrated his 78th birthday when he became Supreme Pontiff of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.
His 24 years as head of the CDF meant he was a known quantity with a track record. He is also a heavyweight theologian and the author of 50 books and numerous articles.
Unlike his predecessor, he was already a highly public figure who provoked diverse reactions.
Who is Benedict XVI?
Those close to the Pope describe him as a razor-sharp, intelligent man and a good listener. They also claim that he is a far cry from his caricature media image.
He is known to be a modest and gentle pastor with a simple faith, combining powerful intellect with childlike piety.
He is the 8th German to become Pope. He speaks 10 languages and is an accomplished pianist. He is a member of a large number of academies including the French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.
Childhood
Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger was born into a traditional Bavarian farming family on April 16, 1927. He was baptised four hours later at the small parish church in the village of Marktl am Inn in south-eastern Bavaria close to the German border.
He was the third and youngest child of Joseph and Maria Ratzinger. His father was a policeman who served in both the Bavarian State Police (Landespolizei) and the German national Regular Police (Ordnungspolizei) before retiring in 1937 to the town of Traunstein.
The family was bitterly opposed to Nazism because it conflicted with their faith. Joseph's father did not publicly oppose the Nazis but he subscribed to an anti-Nazi newspaper.
The Ratzinger family prayed together, recited the rosary and attended Sunday Mass. Like his older brother, Georg, young Joseph yearned to be a priest from an early age.
Both boys loved music. Joseph later wrote that "Mozart thoroughly penetrated our souls" and that music contained "the whole tragedy of human existence."
World War Two
Six months before Britain declared war on Germany, 12-year-old Joseph entered St Michael's minor seminary in Traunstein where his brother was already a student.
When he turned 14, he was forced by law to join the Hitler Youth. Two years later, in 1943, he was drafted into the anti-aircraft artillery corp.
Towards the end of war, he deserted the German army. Desertion was widespread in the later stages of the war and punishable by death. Ratzinger was briefly held as a prisoner of war by the Allies in 1945 at the age of 16.
Early academic career
After the war he returned to seminary for a further six years. He and his brother were both ordained to the priesthood in Freising on June 29, 1951.
He quickly progressed from parish work and entered the world of academia after obtaining a doctorate in theology in 1953 from Munich University. In 1958 he became professor of fundamental theology at Freising, aged 31.
He was also appointed professor of fundamental theology in Bonn. In 1966 he accepted a chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tubingen where the prominent Catholic theologian Hans Kung was a colleague.
But this was not an altogether happy time for Ratzinger who distanced himself from the Marxist leanings of many of his students during the 1960s.
In 1969, he moved to the more tranquil settting of Regensburg University in his native Bavaria, rising to become its dean and vice-president.
Vatican II
During the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Father Ratzinger served as a peritus, or theological consultant to Cardinal Josef Frings of Cologne.
The Second Vatican Council or Vatican II was an historic, ecumenical meeting of the world's bishops, other religious leaders and thinkers convened by Pope John XXVIII to bring about a renewal of the Church.
"Rubbing shoulders with bishops and theologians from across the globe was exciting for Ratzinger, who had little direct experience of the Church beyond Germany," explains Greg Watts in his book Labourer in the Vineyard.
"Some years later Ratzinger said: 'This was a great time of my life, in which I was able to be part of this meeting, not only between continents and different cultures, but also different schools of thinking and spirituality in the Church.' "
The council discussed the role of the Church in an increasingly fragmented and modern world. It produced important documents on Christian unity and introduced changes in the Mass.
When the council closed in 1968 the encyclical Humanae Vitae (Human Life) sparked a crisis in the Church. The document reaffirmed traditional Catholic teaching that only natural methods of birth control were acceptable, leading to a major backlash in many quarters of the Church.
Unlike his colleague, Hans Kung, Father Ratzinger became a staunch defender of Humanae Vitae and Church teaching on sexual morality. At one time, Ratzinger had been regarded as more liberal than Kung. Now the opposite was true.
Cardinal Archbishop of Munich
After Vatican II, Father Ratzinger's reputation continued to grow within Vatican circles. He was appointed to the International Papal Theological Commission in 1972.
In 1977 he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI.
He was made a cardinal a month after his episcopal ordination and took part in his first ever conclave the following year. Two days into the conclave, Albino Luciani, the Patriarch of Venice was elected the 263rd successor to St Peter, taking the name Pope John Paul I.
He died after only 33 days in office. Cardinal Ratzinger flew back to Rome for the unexpected second conclave that elected Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II).
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Cardinal Ratzinger was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on November 25, 1981 by Pope John Paul II. He was also appointed President of both the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.
The CDF is one of nine congregations in the Roman Curia and the only one with executive powers.
During his time in office, Cardinal Ratzinger led a crackdown on Liberation theology in Latin America in the 1980s. He was also involved with the publication of the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He championed traditional Catholic teaching on artificial birth control, abortion and homosexuality. It was during this time that he became known as the Vatican's "enforcer of the faith".
Sometimes he even clashed with colleagues over his views and this led to public disagreements.
In 1993, for instance, he fell out with fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper. Kasper had put his name to a pastoral letter calling for divorced Catholics who had remarried to be allowed to return to the sacraments. Ratzinger disagreed, arguing that the Church should not change its teaching.
Another quarrel broke out in 2001, this time on the pages of Catholic journals over the role of the universal and local Church. Kasper argued that the local Church should take precedence whereas Ratzinger said it should be the other way round.
Courting controversy
Arguably Ratzinger drew most criticism for his handling of clergy and monks and nuns who stepped out of line.
One prominent case involved the 1997 excommunication of Father Tissa Balasuriya, a priest working in the predominately Buddhist Sri Lanka. Balasuriya had refused to accept Church teaching on a wide range of issues, particularly the doctrine of original sin.
In 2001, Ratzinger threatened Archbishop Emeritus Emmanuel Milingo of Lusaka with excommunication. The flamboyant 71-year-old archbishop was a controversial figure who had performed exorcisms during healing Masses which attracted massive crowds.
The controversy deepened when Milingo announced he had married 43-year-old Maria Sung in a ceremony presided over by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Moonies.
Tackling sex abuse
From 2001, responsibility for the investigation of sexual abuse by priests was passed to the CDF. The clergy sex abuse crisis resulted in priests and even bishops in some countries being accused or jailed.
Cardinal Ratzinger defended the priesthood against the scandal of sex abuse, arguing that a crisis in faith, not celibacy, was the root of the problem. He also sparked controversy when he said that less than one per cent of priests in the United States were guilty of sexually abusing minors.
Critics interpreted his comments as ignoring the crimes of those who had committed abuse. Supporters argued that he was pointing out that priests who live respectable lives should not be tainted by the sins of the few.
A report by the Catholic Church helped to draw a line under the row. It revealed that 4,450 Catholic clergy who served between 1950 and 2002 had faced credible abuse allegations.
Health
After 24 controversial years as the Church's top doctrinal watchdog, Cardinal Ratzinger had hoped to retire from the CDF after the election of a new pope.
He had suffered a brain haemorrhage in 1991 which some observers suggested was related to the pressures of his work at the CDF. He also suffered another mild stroke some time between 2003 and 2005 and was reported to have a heart condition.
Hopes of a peaceful retirement gradually began to fade after Pope John Paul II's death in April 2005. Ratzinger was now emerging as a strong contender for papacy. Deep down he must have known that this was a possibility. Like any man in his position, he feared the enormity of task.
After his election as pope, he revealed: "At a certain point, I prayed to God 'please don't do this to me'."
The new Pope
At one time Cardinal Conti Martini, an Italian Jesuit and biblical scholar, was considered the leading liberal contender for the papacy. After he moved to Jerusalem, rumoured to be suffering from Parkinson's disease, a new contest began.
Some had predicted a revolutionary figure from the developing world or Latin America who would reform the Church. Others had hoped for a man who would carry on the legacy of Pope John Paul II.
In April 2005, the conclave voted for continuity in the form of Joseph Ratzinger. In many ways he was an obvious choice.
In the days after the death of Pope John Paul, the world started to see Cardinal Ratzinger in a new light.
He was chosen to preside over the Pope's funeral on April 8, 2005, attended by almost one million mourners from around the world and broadcast to a global audience of two billion people.
He also gave a much-acclaimed homily, described by the American Vatican correspondent John L. Allen as evolving from "a mere funeral speech to a turning point in the history of the Church".
In his book The Rise of Benedict XVI, Allen described how Ratzinger became emotional at certain points in the homily. He was interrupted 13 times by outbursts of applause from the crowd and was visibly moved by their reaction.
"Perhaps the most indelible memory for anyone who experienced the homily was the way the crowd, quite literally, became Ratzinger's conversation partner," observed Allen.
After the conclave the new Pope continued to show a softer face to the world, surprising the vast crowd when he spoke about his role as a "shepherd in the
desert" during his installation Mass.
"Showing a pastoral concern that surprised his critics, he went on to talk about the deserts of poverty, hunger, thirst, abandonment, loneliness, of destroyed love, of God's darkness and the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life." (Labourer in the Vineyard by Greg Watts.)
Benedict XVI
His choice of the name Benedict was significant. In his first general audience in St Peter's Square on April 27, 2005, the new Pope explained why he chose the name.
He revealed: "Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I
place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples.
"Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Nursia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions."
