Pope Benedict XVI, who was the first pope to resign the position in centuries and took the title 'pope emeritus,' died Saturday at 95.
Benedict, who was born Joseph Ratzinger in Bavaria, Germany, on April 16, 1927, wished to become a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church since age 12. His life took a detour in childhood, when he was forced into Hitler Youth during Hitler's rule. Never an enthusiastic member of the organization, he was later drafted into the German military and was trained in the infantry. He managed to desert the army just prior to Allied victory, and was held as a prisoner of war until the war's end.
Ratzinger entered seminary after the war, and he was ordained in 1951. Over the next few decades, he established himself as an intellectual force in the Catholic Church, seen as a leading liberal prior to 1968, supporting the reforms of the Vatican II conference. After 1968, he shifted to a more conservative point of view, for which he would be well known in his later years as cardinal and as pope.
In 1977, Pope Paul VI elevated Ratzinger to cardinal shortly after Ratzinger becoming Archbishop of Freising and Munich. In 1981, Pope John Paul II made Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he became an influential voice in the Vatican under John Paul II's papacy.
In 2005, he was elected pope following the death of John Paul II. His papacy was noted for a staunch adherence to conservative theology and tradition.
Benedict's papacy also was marked by an increased effort to tackle sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, though he was criticized for the slow pace of progress on that front.
Benedict also made headlines in December 2012 when he joined Twitter under the handle @Pontifex.
In February 2013, he announced his resignation as pope, the first to do so completely voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294. He would take the title 'pope emeritus,' and his successor, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, was elected in March 2013. Bergoglio, who would take the regnal name 'Francis,' was the second place finished in the 2005 papal conclave which elected Benedict.
Benedict lived a quiet life between 2013 and 2022, remaining in the Vatican. He became the longest living pope (former or reigning) in 2020, and he celebrated his 70th anniversary as a priest in 2021.
Pope Francis had requested prayers for Benedict on December 28, 2022, announcing the former pontiff was in poor health. Benedict died three days later on December 31.
