Pope Benefict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

Born April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, in Bavaria, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the son of a police officer. He was ordained in 1951, at age 24. He began his career as a liberal academic and theological adviser to at the Second Vatican Council, supporting many efforts to make the church more open.Pope Paul VI appointed him bishop of Munich in 1977 and appointed him cardinal in just three months. He was appointed hear of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith in 1981.

His election on the fourth ballot on April 19, 2004 as the 265th pontiff came 17 days after the death of John Paul, who succumbed to illnesses related to Parkinson's disease at his residence in the Vatican on April 2. He chose the name St. Benedict XVI.

At 5:50 p.m.on April 10 in Rome, wispy white smoke puffed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel where the cardinals were meeting, signaling that the new pope had been chosen, only a day after the secret conclave began. His name was not announced until nearly an hour later, after the great bell at St. Peter's tolled, and the scarlet curtain over the basilica's central balcony parted and a cardinal stepped out to announce in Latin, "Habemus papam!"