APR 2005

Pope Benedict XVI

On Tuesday 19th April, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, age 78, was elected the 265th Pope. The new pope is the first German pontiff since Victor II in the 11th century, and the oldest cardinal to be elected pope since Clement XII, who was also 78 when chosen in 1730.

Cardinal Ratzinger was thought to have picked the name Benedict XVI , because Benedict XV was a great pope of peace.

Wednesday, 20th April, Pope Benedict XVI said his first mass as pope in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, where the Church Cardinals elected him leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics.

Pope Benedict XVI said of Pope John Paul II, "At this moment I see his smiling eyes turned towards me, I pray I will be up to his measure". Cardinal Ratzinger helped John Paul II craft and enforce church theology since 1981, when he was appointed head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. He faced opposition among German Catholics for his stand on issues such as birth control, celibacy and the role of women in the church.

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