The papacy of Pope Benedict XVI began on 19 April 2005. He was born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, on 16 April 1927, in the town of Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany. He became the 265th Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship. He succeeded Pope John Paul II.Benedict XVI is theologically conservative and his teaching and prolific writings defend traditional Catholic doctrine an values. At the time of his election as Pope, Benedict had been Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and was Dean of the College of Cardinals. He was elected Pope at the age of 78, the oldest person to have been elected since Pope Clement XII (1730-40). In addition to his native German, Benedict XVI fluently speaks Italian, French, English, Latin, and also has a knowledge of Portuguese. Pope Benedict was also the founder and patron of the Ratzinger Foundation, a charitable organization, which makes money from the sale of books and essays written by the Pope, in order to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
