FACTBOX | Former Pope Benedict, his papacy and resignation

VATICAN CITY – Following are some information about former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday:

– Benedict, the primary German pope in 1,000 years, was elected on April 19, 2005 to succeed the extensively in style Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 27 years. Cardinals selected him from amongst their quantity searching for continuity and what one referred to as “a safe pair of hands”. For practically 25 years, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he was the highly effective head of the Vatican’s doctrinal workplace, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Religion (CDF).

– An uncompromising theological conservative, Ratzinger left Germany and his publish as archbishop of Munich in 1982 to go the CDF. His disciplining of Latin American clergymen who promoted Marxist-influenced Liberation Theology bestowed him with the sobriquet “God’s Rottweiler”.

– A weak administrator who admitted a “lack of resolve in governing and decision taking,” his eight-year papacy was marked by missteps and a leaks scandal. He antagonized Muslims by showing to counsel that Islam was inherently violent. He angered Jews by rehabilitating a Holocaust denier and prompted worldwide dismay by saying the usage of condoms within the combat in opposition to AIDS solely worsened the issue. The 2012 “Vatileaks” scandal helped unravel his papacy. Paolo Gabriele, Benedict’s butler, leaked secret paperwork that exposed corruption and feuding inside the Vatican. Benedict mentioned he stood down as a result of unhealthy well being prevented him from bearing the total weight of the papacy.

– Little one abuse scandals hounded most of his papacy however he’s credited with jump-starting the method to self-discipline or defrock predator clergymen after a extra lax perspective beneath John Paul II. He ordered an inquiry into abuse in Eire, which led to the resignation of a number of bishops. He disciplined the late Father Marcial Maciel, founding father of the Catholic order the Legionaries of Christ and one of many Church’s most infamous predators. The Vatican beneath Pope John Paul II had did not take motion in opposition to Maciel regardless of overwhelming proof of his crimes.

– In 2022, an impartial report in Benedict’s native Germany alleged that he had did not take motion in 4 circumstances when he was Archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982. The frail former pope acknowledged in an emotional private letter that errors had occurred and requested for forgiveness. His attorneys argued in an in depth rebuttal that he was not on to blame.

– Though he promised to maintain a low profile after his retirement, Benedict wrote, gave interviews and, unwittingly or not, grew to become a lightning rod for conservatives who opposed Pope Francis. Some loyalists failed to simply accept that he had resigned the papacy willingly and continued to contemplate him “my pope”. The “two popes” confusion was compounded as a result of he selected to proceed carrying white and be generally known as “pope emeritus”. The ensuing polarization led to calls from each conservatives and liberals for modifications in Church legislation to manage the features and standing of former popes.

– Benedict produced greater than 60 books between 1963, when he was a priest, and 2013, when he resigned. “In reality I am more of a professor, a person who reflects and meditates on spiritual questions,” Benedict mentioned after his resignation.

– He performed piano and had a choice for Mozart and Bach. As a classicist, he frowned on rock and roll as an “expression of base passions” and as soon as referred to as in style music a “cult of banality”. Pope Francis, in contrast, additionally loves classical music however appreciates Italian pop songs from the early Nineteen Sixties and additionally likes tango music from his native Argentina.

Reuters

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