His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI

 265th Pope

Benedict XVI was one of the oldest new popes in history when he was elected in 2005.

Heavenly Father, be pleased to bless and protect our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, whom you have chosen as the successor of St. Peter as the chief minister of unity and charity in the Church. Keep him safe in holiness of life and in wise fulfillment of his awesome responsibilities. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

Bio

16 April 1927, born as Joseph  Aloisius  Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn (on the Inn River), Germany, Holy Saturday and baptized in the Easter Water blessed at the Easter Vigil.

29 June 1951, ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Faulhaber, in the Cathedral at Freising, on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

July 1953, he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Munich.

15 April 1959, started as a professor lecturing fundamental theology at the University of Bonn.

1962 to 1965, was present at all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a peritus, or chief theological advisor, to Cardinal Josef Frings of Köln (Cologne), Germany.

1963, started teaching at the University of Münster.

1966, became a second chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen.

1969, started teaching at University of Regensburg, Bavaria.

1969 to 1980, a member of the International Theological Commission of the Holy See.

1972,  launched the a quarterly review of Catholic theology and culture ~ Catholic theological journal Communio.

 24 March 1977, was elected Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI.

28 May 1977, ordained into the episcopal Order.

27 June 1977, elevated to Cardinal (Cardinal Priest) by Pope Paul VI (the titular church of St. Mary of Consolation, Tiburtina)

25 November 1981,  the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the same time also the ex officio the President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and the International Theological Commission.

5 April 1993, transferred to the order of Cardinal Bishops (suburbicarian see of Velletri-Signi).

9 November 1998, elected as Vice-Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals with the  approval by Pope John Paul II.

30 November 2002, elected as Dean of the College of Cardinals (suburbicarian See of Ostia added to that of Velletri-Segni).

19 April 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected the Bishop of Rome and the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church on the fourth of the Conclave. (after the death of his Holiness Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005).

Sunday, 24 April 2005, at 10am, celebrated the Mass for the Inauguration of his pontificate in St. Peter's Square, receiving the Pallium and the Fisherman's Ring at that liturgical celebration.

Quotes by His Holiness

“If you follow the will of God, you know that in spite of all the terrible things that happen to you, you will never lose a final refuge. You know that the foundation of the world is love, so that even when no human being can or will help you, you may go on, trusting in the One that loves you.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

“Purity of heart is what enables us to see.”
 ~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

Jesus of Nazareth

“Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary.”  
 ~ Pope Benedict XVI ~
Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI

Mass, Imposition of the Pallium
and  Conferral of the Fisherman's Ring
for the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry
of the Bishop of Rome

Sunday, 24 April 2005

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html

“Mary is a woman who loves. How could it be otherwise? As a believer who in faith thinks with God's thoughts and wills with God's will, she cannot fail to be a woman who loves. We sense this in her quiet gestures, as recounted by the infancy narratives in the Gospel. We see it in the delicacy with which she recognizes the need of the spouses at Cana and makes it known to Jesus. We see it in the humility with which she recedes into the background during Jesus' public life, knowing that the Son must establish a new family and that the Mother's hour will come only with the Cross, which will be Jesus' true hour (cf. Jn 2:4; 13:1). When the disciples flee, Mary will remain beneath the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25-27); later, at the hour of Pentecost, it will be they who gather around her as they wait for the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).”  
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~   

 God Is Love--Deus Caritas Est: Encyclical Letter

“Without God man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is... One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation... Poverty is often produced by a rejection of God's love, by man's basic and tragic tendency to close in on himself, thinking himself to be self-sufficient or merely an insignificant and ephemeral fact, a "stranger" in a random universe...The human being develops when ... his soul comes to know itself and the truths that God has implanted deep within, when he enters into dialogue with himself and his Creator... It is not by isolation that man establishes his worth, but by placing himself in relation with others and with God.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~
Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI

Apostolic Journey of Pope Benedict XVI
to Portugal on the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary
of the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco,
Young Sherperds of Fatima

Friday, 14 May 2010 
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100514_porto_en.html

“My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to love". Do not desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred and death for ever through love (cf. Rev 5:13).

Love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women, between rich and poor, between cultures and civilizations. (Message for the 22nd World Youth Day: Palm Sunday, 1 April 2007)”
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~  

“The 'commandment' of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be 'commanded' because it has first been given.”  
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

God Is Love--Deus Caritas Est: Encyclical Letter

“Praying actualizes and deepens our communion with God. Our prayer can and should arise above all from our heart, from our needs, our hopes, our joys, our sufferings, from our shame over sin, and from our gratitude from the good. It can and should be a wholly personal prayer.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~   

Jesus of Nazareth

“There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord. It is God who governs the world, not we. We offer him our service only to the extent that we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength. To do all we can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: “The love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14).”
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

God Is Love--Deus Caritas Est: Encyclical Letter

“Eternal Life" is life itself, real life, which can also be lived in the present age and is no longer challenged by physical death.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI ~   

 Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection