Remembering the Birthday of Pope Benedict XVI who was Born in 1927

 

Pope Benedict XVI, formally Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, turned 78 when he was elected as the 265th Pope. His birthday was April 16th; and he died on December 31st, 2022.
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was born on the 16th of April, Holy Saturday, 1927, in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany.

   
He was baptized the same day. Ratzinger's parents were Joseph Ratzinger, Senior and Maria Ratzinger (born: Peintner). Pope Benedict XVI's brother, Georg Ratzinger, was a priest and they were ordained on the same day. His sister, Maria Ratzinger, who never married, managed Cardinal Ratzinger's household until her death in 1991. Benedict sixteenth is now Pope Emeritus of the Catholic Church. He was Pope from 2005 to 2013. Benedict XVI was elected on the 19th of April 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul the second. Ratzinger chose the pontifical name Benedict, which comes from the Latin word meaning "the blessed", in honour of both Benedict the fifteenth and Saint Benedict of Nursia. He was ordained as a priest in 1951 in Bavaria, Germany. He resigned from the papacy on February 28th, 2013. Pope Francis was subsequently elected pontiff. Benedict XVI  lived in the Residence of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican after his resignation. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he was known to look after stray cats in his neighbourhood. He spoke fluent German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and English. Benedict the sixteenth wrote 66 books.

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