Pope Benedict XVI dies: look at his achievements and his controversies 4:22
(CNN Spanish) --
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was elected as the 265th pope on April 19, 2005, days after the death of John Paul II.
As pope, Ratzinger went by the name Benedict XVI, who held the position from his election in 2005 until his surprise retirement in February 2013. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI died December 31 in Vatican City at age 95 after a period of ill health.
Latest on the death of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, live: news and reactions
Why do the potatoes have different names?
To answer this question, we have to make two things clear: 1) the cardinals elected as popes freely choose their name;
and 2) there is no official rule that dictates how the choice of the name should be, but rather it is a tradition that has been gaining strength for centuries.
The Britannica encyclopedia points out that the first supreme pontiff who decided to change his name was Pope John II, since he considered his original name, Mercury, as pagan and, instead, he opted for the name of John in reference to Pope John I.
John II held the position from 533 to 535, in the 6th century.
Since then, the tradition that the popes choose another name different from the original took shape, but it was finally consolidated in the mid-eleventh century, according to the Catholic Church of St. Catherine of Siena (in Georgia, United States).
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Why did Ratzinger choose Benedict as his pope name?
Taking the above into account, the popes choose their name freely, either one in reference to a past pontiff with whom they feel identified or a new one never used before (as in the case of Pope Francis).
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: details of his life, his historic resignation, his controversies and more
Ratzinger chose Benedict, in his own words quoted by ACI Prensa, due to the following: "I wanted to call myself Benedict XVI to ideally relate to the revered Pontiff Benedict XV, who has guided the Church in a period tormented by the first world conflict. It was courageous and authentic prophet of peace, and he acted with extreme courage from the beginning to avoid the drama of war and later to limit the dire consequences".
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