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Pope Benedict XVIi

Benedict XVI was born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, Germany. He was the 265th Pope, having been elected in April 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II. At 14, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth, a legal requirement. In 1945, he deserted the German army and was taken prisoner by the U.S. Army. Ratzinger received a doctorate in theology at the University of Munich in 1953, having been ordained as a priest two years earlier. He is a Conservative who during his papacy advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many developed countries. On February 11, 2013, he became the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to resign.

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  • Francis celebrated his birthday on Sunday with cake during an audience with children and the crowd held “Happy Birthday” banners in St Peter’s Square
  • Recent health issues and hospitalisations have raised questions about Francis’ ability to continue the globetrotting rigours of the modern-day papacy
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A documentary recently caused an uproar in Poland, as the film accuses the late pope of knowing about allegations of abuse by priests in the 1960s and 1970s.

Pope Francis, 86, has said he would be ready to step down if severe health problems prohibited him from running the Church but also thinks popes should try to reign for life.

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Ex-Pope Benedict was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by scandal and mismanagement.

Once dubbed ‘God’s Rottweiler’, Pope Benedict XVI was criticised for failing to end Church cover-ups of child abuse and became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries

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Former pope John Paul I was the shortest-serving pontiff in modern church history, serving for just 33 days in 1978 before he died of a heart attack.

He was secretary of state under John Paul II and Benedict XVI – holding the number two post in the Vatican hierarchy for 16 years between 1990 and 2006; he was accused of covering up one of the Catholic Church’s most notorious sex abusers.

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Pope Benedict XVI, served as the archbishop Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Munich from 1977 to 1982, when he failed to punish or discipline in four cases of abuse.

Retired former pope Benedict sought to calm a dispute within the Vatican, claiming his name was erroneously attributed as co-author to a new book with a conservative cardinal.

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He had promised to remain ‘hidden from the world’ when he retired in 2013 and pledged his obedience to the new pope. But retired Pope Benedict has broken his silence by co-authoring a bombshell book.

Playing Pope Benedict and XVI and Pope Francis respectively, Hopkins and Pryce shine whenever The Two Popes sees the pair banter and gently argue about everything from the finer points of Catholic theology to the Beatles.

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Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has emerged from his self-imposed silence inside the Vatican walls to publish a lengthy letter to one of Italy's best-known atheists. In it, he denies having covered up for sexually abusive priests and discusses everything from evolution to the figure of Jesus Christ.

Benedict XVI sprang a huge surprise when he stepped down from his papal office, the first pope in 600 years to do so; he no longer had the energy for his task, he said.

Pope Francis flew in to a papal residence near Rome yesterday for an unprecedented encounter with "pope emeritus" Benedict - the first time a pontiff has met his predecessor.

In addition to being the first non-European pope for almost 13 centuries, the new pope's choice of name sets him apart - and establishes a link to the South China coast.

Victims of clergy sexual abuse urged newly-elected Pope Francis to reform the Catholic Church and declare "zero tolerance" for sex crimes as his first official act.

Pope Benedict is gone but far from forgotten as cardinals begin voting for candidates to replace him, with his personal secretary Georg Gänswein one of the last to leave the Sistine Chapel before the start of the conclave.