February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Joseph Ratzinger, 78, will henceforth be known as Benedict XVI.
Appointed a cardinal by Paul VI in 1977, Ratzinger became Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith in 1981, a position he held until the late pope’s death.
Addressing the crowd from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica shortly after his election, Benedict XVI said: “Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope, John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.
“The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.”
Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany on April 16, 1927 — five years after the death of Benedict XV, who was pontiff through World War I. His father was a policeman who came from farming stock. Ratzinger Sr., it’s said, quietly opposed the Nazis. His son, the future Benedict XVI, was forced to join the Hitler Youth at age 14. Later, when at a seminary, he was drafted into an anti-aircraft unit in Munich. He deserted in 1945 and was briefly imprisoned by the U.S. Army.
Ratzinger, who reportedly can speak 10 languages and is an accomplished musician, was ordained in 1951.
After serving since the late 1960s as professor of dogmatic theology at University of Regensburg, he was appointed archbishop of Munich-Freising in 1977.
Even before he took up his role in the Vatican, he was known for his clashes with liberals. Notably in the latter group was a former friend, the theologian Hans Kung, who had helped Ratzinger get his university job in the 1960s. In 1979, Kung’s license to teach theology was revoked by the Vatican.
In his autobiography, Ratzinger wrote of the 1960s: “I found the mood in the church and among theologians to be agitated. More and more, there was the impression that nothing stood fast in the church, that everything was up for revision.”
His election as pope will be seen as highly controversial. Described as a “clone” of John Paul II, he’s said to favor a smaller, ideologically purer church.
Sometimes referred to as the late pope’s “enforcer,” he opposed any discussion on controversial subjects such as abortion, homosexuality, contraception and the marriage of ordained priests.
His blunt style in dealing with theological dissent made him many enemies, particularly in the liberal and progressive sections of the church.
“It was a good-cop, bad-cop kind of thing,” said Vatican expert Rocco Palmo, according to the New York Daily News. “His job was to be the doctrinal policeman. He was doing the job he was sent to do and he did it well.”
In what was seen as an attempt to slow the momentum behind Ratzinger in the days before the conclave, fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper said in a sermon: “Just as it is forbidden to clone others, it is not possible to clone John Paul II. Every pope ministers in his own way, according to the demands of his era. No one was ever simply a copy of his predecessor. Let’s not search for someone who is too scared of doubt and secularity in the modern world.”
For his part, just days before he became Benedict XVI, Ratzinger said: “Having a clear faith, according to the credo of the church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. Yet relativism, that is, letting oneself be carried here and there by any wind of doctrine, appears as the sole attitude good enough for modern times.”