Benedict XVI
 | Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, was born in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany (known at the time as the Weimar Republic), on 16 April 1927. Elected the 265th successor of St. Peter on April 19, 2005, he had served the previous Pope, St. John Paul II, since 1982 as his Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Citing a "lack of strength of mind and body," his pontificate of 7 years and 10 months ended with the first papal resignation since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. |
