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When Joseph Ratzinger was elected the first German pope in 500 years, there was great euphoria in Germany.
In retrospect, the tenure of Benedict XVI.
overshadowed by the abuse scandal - with consequences for the Catholic Church.
"Papa Ratzi" is the headline of a British newspaper, the Bild-Zeitung writes: "We are Pope".
In April 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pontiff.
He chooses the name Benedict XVI.
In 2013 he resigned for health reasons – it was the first resignation by a pope in centuries.
Now, on December 31, 2022, Pope Benedict XVI.
died in the Vatican at the age of 95.
The first German pontiff in almost 500 years at a mass church service in the summer of 2005 – two months after Ratzinger's election to the head of the Catholic Church, there is a kind of papal euphoria in Germany.
The footsteps of his predecessor, John Paul II, are large, the Pole was charismatic and popular among the faithful.
Benedict, on the other hand, has a reputation as a rather shy intellectual.
Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927 in Marktl am Inn in Bavaria.
Religion shaped his childhood and his career as a professor and clergyman.
Before his pontificate, Ratzinger had been the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for many years, and was thus the supreme guardian of Catholic doctrine.
As pope, Benedict also causes controversial discussions: in a speech in 2006, he quoted a Byzantine emperor who described Islam as the bringer of misfortune over the world.
Later, Benedict apologizes that he was misunderstood.
Pope Benedict XVI:
"Show me what new things Mohammed brought, and you will find only evil and inhuman things like this, that he prescribed spreading the faith he preached by the sword."
In 2010, decades of abuse of children by Catholic clergy are gradually coming to light.
The cover-up of the deeds also plunges the Catholic Church into one of its most serious crises, which continues to this day - and also casts a shadow over the work of Benedict XVI.
throws: Sexualized violence also occurred during Ratzinger's tenure in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, as a report in 2022 revealed.
At the end of January, the Catholic Church will present an expert opinion on the cases of abuse.
It also accuses the former Archbishop Ratzinger of misconduct.
In February 2022, the Pope Emeritus asked the victims of sexualized violence in the Catholic Church for forgiveness.
However, he denies allegations that the attacks were covered up during his tenure in Bavaria, he does not accept personal responsibility - not enough for the reform movement »We are Church«.
Christian Weisner, spokesman for "We are Church":
"It is certainly the case that Ratzinger did much more against sexualised violence, against abuse and cover-up in the Church than his predecessor John Paul II. But one must also say, and that is a In fact, in 2001, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, he placed all these crimes under papal secret.
And with that he covered everything up for many, many years.
Basically, it's an organized cover-up he did in Rome that Pope Francis only broke up."
The number of people leaving the church in Bavaria has risen sharply, mainly because of the abuse scandal.
In 2021, more than 100,000 Catholics in Bavaria alone had turned their backs on their church.
According to a survey by the dpa news agency, there could be even more this year.
After his resignation in 2013, Benedict XVI lived.
relatively secluded in a monastery in the Vatican.
On December 28, 2022, at the general audience, Pope Francis asked for a “special prayer” for his predecessor.
Pope Francis
:
"Think of him, he is very ill.
And ask the Lord to console and support him in this testimony of love for the Church
–
to the end.«