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Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday Feb. 11th that he will retire on February 28th, making a decision not seen before in the recent history of the Vatican. Who is Benedict XVI, where does he come from, who is his family, what did he do during his pontificate. Click on the photos to get the answers.
Photo: AFP
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Benedict XVI, whose real name is Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, was elected pope number 265 after the death of John Paul II. He was born Marktl am Inn, Alemania, on April 16th, 1927. His is the youngest of three brothers and the son of Joseph Ratzinger, un policeman, and Maria Rieger. His brother Georg Ratzinger is also a priest.
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Before entering the Catholic Church, he joined the German army in 1943. Describing himself as a "son of Germany," he prayed and asked himself why God stayed silent to the death of 1,5 million people, the majority of them Jewish, during World War II.
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Ratzinger was part of the Hitler youth, when participation was mandatory. He never was part of a Nazi party, and his familiy was opposed to Adolf Hitler's regime. It was in 1952 as a priest that he started to teach the dogma of faith in several German schools and universities. He was a teacher until 1977. The picture shows Ratzinger celebrating a mass in the mountains of Ruhpolding, in the south of Germany.
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In 1955 becomes a professor in dogmatic theology in Freising, south of Germany.
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On March 24th, 1977, pope Paul VI, put the cardinal ring to Ratzinger at St. Peter's Curch in the Vatican.
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In 1981 he is named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This congregation is reponsible for imposing catholic orthodoxy. In the photo, cardinal Ratzinger, next to the leader of the Armenian Othodox Church, Vasken I Baldyan, en 1981.
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On November 30th, 2002, he was elected associate dean of the Cardinal School. In this photo he appears next to pope John Paul II during a mass on September 11th, 2002 at St. Peter's Church at the Vatican.
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On April 19th, 2005, Ratzinger is elected as pope Benedict XVI, the 265th pope of the Catholic Church. The pope greets the people from the central balcony of St. Peter's Church in the Vatican.
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On May 28th, 2006, the pope prays in front of the firing squad at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during his visit to Poland.
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On September 17th, 2010 during a visit to Great Britain, the pope recognized the church did not react fast enough to excommunicate the priests that were sexually abusing children.
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On May 1st, 2011, in front of 1.5 milllion people at St. Peter's Square, pope Benedict XVI beatifies pope John Paul II, opening a possible canonization in the future. Prime ministers, and members of royalty attended the event.
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Pope Benedict XVI visited Mexico and Cuba, from Marc 23rd to 28th, 2012. It was his first trip to two Spanish speaking countries . He was in Mexico from the 23rd to the 26th where he met then president Felipe Calderón. He then went to the Plaza de la Paz (Peace square) in Guanajuato where he met with a group of Mexican children.
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On March 26th, 2012, he visited Cuba, where he found a stronger Catholic Church than when his predecessor John Paul II, visited the island . He was received by president Raúl Castro in Santiago and officiated a mass for the 400th anniversary of the finding of the Virgin of the Charity of Cobre, patroness of the island, and visited the sanctuary.
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His last official trip was on September 12, 2012 when he visited Lebanon. On December 12, 2012, he posted his first twit, through his account @pontifex_es.
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Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday Feb. 11th that he will retire on February 28th, making a decision not seen before in the recent history of the Vatican. Who is Benedict XVI, where does he come from, who is his family, what did he do during his pontificate. Click on the photos to get the answers.
Photo: AFP
