Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th and reigning Pope, succeeding Pope John Paul II as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Born Joseph Alois Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany, he was elected Pope in April of 2005 at the age of 78. Benedict supposedly declared his desire to serve the Catholic Church at the age of five, saying he wanted to be a cardinal someday - he became one in 1977. After a brief stint in World War II as a German soldier, Benedict entered a seminary and studied at a German university, becoming a professor in 1958. Seen as a prolific writer and natural master of language, Benedict fluently speaks German, Italian, French, English, Latin, and also has a knowledge of Portuguese. He can read Ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew, and also plays piano.
Benedict's tenure as Pope has seen its controversy. Comments the Pope made about Islam and the Holocaust have been perceived by some as insensitive and judgmental, and his strict conservative beliefs have also caused tension at times within the global community.
Still, Benedict has promoted various efforts for global peace, such as World Refugee Day, during which he said special prayers for refugees and urged the international community to do more to secure refugees' human rights. He was also the founder and patron of the Ratzinger Foundation, a charitable organization that raises money from the sale of books and essays written by the Pope in order to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world. Of his nod to the papacy, Benedict has said "I accepted it, even though it seemed to me to be something that went beyond my strength."
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