Pope Benedict XVI
hidePope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger on 16 April 1927) is the 265th and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on 7 May 2005. Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship. He succeeded Pope John Paul II.
Benedict XVI is theologically conservative and his teaching and prolific writings defend traditional Catholic doctrine and values. After a long career as an internationally noted academic, serving as a professor at various German universities, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome when he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important offices of the Roman Curia. At the time of his election as Pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals, serving as the primus inter pares among the cardinals.
During his papacy, Benedict XVI has emphasized what he sees as a need for Europe to return to fundamental Christian values in response to increasing de-Christianisation and secularisation in many developed countries. For this reason, he proclaims relativism's denial of objective truth—and more particularly, the denial of moral truths—as the central problem of the 21st century. He teaches the importance for the Catholic Church and for humanity of contemplating God's redemptive love and has reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."
Pope Benedict was also the founder and patron of the Ratzinger Foundation, a charitable organisation, which makes money from the sale of books and essays written by the Pope, in order to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
For more information about Pope Benedict XVI, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with pope benedict xvi
Facebook, Wikipedia execs brief Vatican on Web
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Executives from Facebook, Wikipedia and Google are attending a Vatican meeting to brief officials and Catholic bishops about the Internet and digital youth culture.
Pope 2.0: Vatican launches Facebook application
May 22, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI has entered the world of social networking sites and smartphones with a Vatican portal that includes Facebook and iPhone applications.
Jordan queen all a-Twitter over papal visit
May 08, 2009 |
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Jordan's Queen Rania "twittered" on the social online network about Pope Benedict XVI's first ever visit to an Arab country on Friday, as the pontiff kicked off his Holy Land tour.
Pope 'publicly distorted' science in condom row: Lancet
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Mar 26, 2009 |
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One of the world's top medical journals accused Pope Benedict XVI on Friday of having distorted scientific evidence in his remarks on condom use and demanded he make a retraction.
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Nobel Prizes honor a record 5 women in 2009
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A record five women were among the 13 people awarded Nobel Prizes on Thursday, including a writer who depicted life behind the Iron Curtain and researchers who showed how chromosomes protect themselves from degrading.
Ubiquitous in U.S., Google struggles for market share in China
Dec 09, 2009 |
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In China, Google means underdog. While the Mountain View company dominates the search market in the United States, it is not part of the pop lexicon on the other side of the Pacific. In its nine years in China, ...
Nobel winners helped by independence, coffee
Dec 07, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Intellectual freedom, independent research and frequent coffee breaks with colleagues helped this year's Nobel Prize winners make their groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
Museum: Galileo's fingers, tooth are found
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again and will soon be put on display, an Italian museum ...
Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of Turin (Update)
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus. Experts say the historian may be reading ...
Are sterile mosquitoes the answer to malaria elimination?
Nov 16, 2009 |
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The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), the release of sexually sterile male insects to wipe out a pest population, is one suggested solution to the problem of malaria in Africa. A new supplement, published in BioMed Central's ...
UN says hunger stunts some 200 million children
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Nearly 200 million children in poor countries have stunted growth because they don't get enough to eat, according to a new report published by UNICEF Wednesday before a three-day international summit on the problem ...
For gay and straight men, gauging facial attraction appears to operate similarly
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from a researcher at Harvard University finds that gay men are most attracted to the most masculine-faced men, while straight men prefer the most feminine-faced women.
Neurologists Investigate Possible New Underlying Cause of MS
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Neurologists at the University at Buffalo are beginning a research study that could overturn the prevailing wisdom on the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). The researchers will test the possibility that ...
You must remember this: Scientists develop nasal spray that improves memory
Oct 01, 2009 |
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Good news for procrastinating students: a nasal spray developed by a team of German scientists promises to give late night cram sessions a major boost, if a good night's sleep follows. In a research report featured as the ...
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