CNN
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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died at the age of 95. announced on Saturday, He was a powerful intellectual force that shaped Catholic Church theology for more than a quarter of a century, until he shocked the world when he stepped down in 2013.
While not unprecedented, Benedict’s resignation was highly unusual. A pope usually held the office until his death, and the last pope to resign was Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415 to end the civil war within the Church.
Booked by world-famous charismatic popes – St. John Paul II and Pope Francis – Benedict cut another figure. His friends and biographers have described him as quiet and academic, surrounded more by theological books than by crowd worship.
In typical fashion, Benedict announced his unexpected resignation in LatinHe was 85 years old at the time and said his advanced age did not meet the demands of running a Catholic Church.
German-born Benedict saw himself and the church as a bulwark against the secular tendencies of Western society, particularly what he called a “relativistic dictatorship.” He often insisted that Catholics maintain the spirit of the fortress, and said that perhaps a smaller, “pure” church would be best at preserving Catholic traditions and teachings.
As Pope, Benedict was a polarizing figure. Conservatives, who admired his erudite writings and careful theology, admired him. However, critics, especially in the postmodern West, dubbed him “God’s Rottweiler” for his loyalty to church doctrine and his stubborn insistence on silencing dissent.
“He policed the boundaries of faith,” says David Gibson, author of the former pope’s biography, The Rule of Benedict. “He was brilliant and brutally effective.”
Benedict was also accused of handling a sexual abuse crisis involving the Catholic Church as a senior clergyman. A damning report published in January 2022 claims he knew about a priest who abused children but took no action when he was Archbishop of Munich from 1977 until 1982. .
Born and raised in Bavaria, Josef Ratzinger served briefly in the Hitler Youth Service despite his objections and served in the German army during World War II. According to biographers, his father, a police officer, hated the Nazis.
Like his brother Georg, Ratzinger saw his future in the Catholic Church and entered a seminary in Germany in 1945. Upon his ordination, Ratzinger rose rapidly in the church and established himself as a leading theologian. Originally a liberal thinker, he turned conservative in 1968 in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which upended much of Catholic teaching.
In 1977 Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Later that year, former Pope Paul VI appointed a German scholar a cardinal.
From 1981 to 2005, Ratzinger ran the Vatican’s influential Department of Faith and Doctrine (CDF). According to Benedict’s biographer, Mr. Gibson, he was effectively the chief Catholic theologian during this period.
“His 24 years at the CDF were far more influential than his tenure as Pope,” Gibson said.
His influence was certainly felt in America. In 1984, Ratzinger told the preacher, also known as the Dominican Order, to investigate one of its friars, Matthew Fox, for heresy, and the Vatican expelled Fox from his order in 1993. did.
1999, Ratzinger effectively mute American nuns and priests engaged in Ministry of LGBTQ Because they do not affirm the “church teaching of the inherent evil of homosexuality.” Nuns and priests were “permanently forbidden from any pastoral activity involving homosexuals.”
However, Ratzinger eventually got tired of the job and reportedly turned to Pope John Paul II. appoint him as librarian At the Vatican Library. John Paul refused.
Ratzinger was dean of the College of Cardinals in 2005, becoming the sixth German pope to be elected, the first since the 11th century. At that time, the church was facing several pressing problems. For example, its declining popularity in parts of the world and the growing crisis over its role in handling sexual abuse accusations against priests.
As the conclave to appoint the successor to Pope John Paul II progressed, Ratzinger said he quickly realized he would be elected as the new pope.
“At some point, I prayed to God, ‘Don’t do this to me.'” told a German audience Year 2005.
During the election, he said, Ratzinger adopted the name Benedict XVI in honor of the church’s history. He chose the name in honor of Pope Benedict XV, who pursued peace during World War I, and the original Saint Benedict, a monk “whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe”. I chose, Ratzinger said.
Benedict XVI was the oldest person to be elected pope at age 78 since Pope Clement XII in 1730. Given his age, Benedict XVI was widely seen as the interim pope, the bridge to the next generation after the long tenure of John the Paul his II. He was a globe-trotting pope, but his youth and vigor became so weak in later life that he needed help walking and his voice was often difficult to hear during his speeches. .
In tone, demeanor, and behavior, Benedict was markedly different from his predecessor. Whereas John Paul wowed crowds around the world with his mastery of numerous languages, Benedict’s influence was felt through his erudite writings and theological rigor.
CNN’s Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher said, “In a world he considered relativistic and secular, his main aim was to re-establish a sense of Catholic identity in Catholics themselves. did.
As Pope, Benedict often favored a back-to-basics approach. His three encyclicals were letters from the Pope to Catholics around the world and were based on the theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
Bill Donahue of the conservative Catholic League of America credited Benedict for working to reduce friction between adherents of different religions, which was also an important part of John Paul’s mission.
But critics say Benedict didn’t always choose his words wisely. 14th century Byzantine emperor He criticized Islam as violent, “evil and inhuman”.
His remarks were sharply criticized by heads of state in the Middle East and by Muslim groups around the world.
Benedict later apologized, stating, “I deeply apologize for the reaction in some countries to some passages of my speech.”
It was at the height of a sex abuse scandal involving Catholic clergy that Benedict became pope. Because sexual abuse complaints and related lawsuits have torn the Church apart and threatened its moral standing around the world.
In 2002, he asked Pope John Paul II to forward all accusations of sexual abuse to his office. Dealing with Accused Priests QuicklyAccording to the church, between 2004 and 2014, the Vatican disqualified 848 priests who raped or abused children, and fined another 2,572 priests. According to the church, his office had received 3,400 indictments of him during that time.
The flood of accusations around the world abated at times, but never stopped.
In 2008, Benedict admitted “the shame we all felt” over reports of abuse and said those responsible for “evil” should face justice. It said the priests had “damaged their mission” and brought “deep shame and regret” to the church.
In the same year, 2010, he issued new regulations aimed at stopping abuse. This included allowing church prosecution of abuse suspects for 20 years, starting 10 years after the incident. The rule also made downloading child pornography a crime for the Church and allowed the Pope to dismiss priests without a formal Vatican trial.
In some cases, Benedict acted quickly. For example, Marshal, a powerful Mexican priest who founded the conservative legions of Christ, long-standing claim that he sexually abused children;
“No one has dealt with the issue of clergy sexual abuse better than Joseph Ratzinger,” said Donoghue.
But others, like the late Barbara Blaine, former president of the Survivor Network for People Abused by Clergy, said the opposite was true.
Blaine, who died in 2017, said, “I don’t want him to be remembered as someone who did the right thing, because from our perspective, Pope Benedict’s record was terrible.
In 2010, new york times Church officials, including Ratzinger, reported taking no action in a case in which a Wisconsin priest was accused of sexually abusing up to 200 boys. Officials reported they had stopped proceedings against the priest.
Also, in 2010, The Times report The future pope had been copied in a memo announcing that a priest accused of child molestation when he was an archbishop in Munich would return to pastoral work. said Ratzinger receives hundreds of notes a year and it is highly unlikely that he read them.
Twelve years later, according to a church-commissioned report on abuses by Catholic clergy in the diocese, Ratzinger, as archbishop, was informed of four cases of sexual abuse involving minors, among them: Also included were two incidents that occurred during his tenure. In a letter issued by the Vatican in February 2022, Benedict issued a general apology to survivors of abuse, writing: ”
Over the years, victims’ groups have pressured the International Criminal Court to indict Benedict in a sex abuse scandal.
Benedict’s biographer David Gibson said the former pope, like many at the Vatican, was initially slow to recognize the seriousness of the church’s abuse crisis.
“Like many in the church, he was part of the learning curve,” Gibson said.
Ultimately, however, Benedict showed little skill or interest in governing the vast and complex world of the Catholic Church, Gibson said.
In 2012, his Butler was convicted of theft For leaking classified papal documents to combat serious corruption within the papacy and what he saw.
A year later, Benedict announced his resignation.
Since then, Benedict, who has chosen the name Pope Emeritus and has continued to wear the traditional papal white robe, has rarely left the hilltop monastery in Vatican City where he has promised to live a “hidden life.” was.
Still, conservative Catholics tried to bring out Benedict, or at least use him as an opponent to Francis’ more liberal pope. I was watching
The contrast between the two men was dramatized in the 2019 Netflix movie The Two Popes, in which Anthony Hopkins was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Benedict.
Reverend Joseph Fesio, an American Jesuit who studied under Benedict and whose works have been published in the Ignatius Press, said the former pope could have known that the conservatives wanted him to fight Francis. Said it was expensive.
“In a way, he became the face of ‘The Resistance,'” said Fesio.
Benedict preferred to be called something more modest.
A crowd of 10,000 gathered to bid him a moving farewell before he left Rome in 2013.
“I’m no longer pope, but I’m still in the church,” Benedict said. “I am a pilgrim who has just begun the final part of my pilgrimage on this earth.”
