Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was born on 16 April, Holy Saturday, 1927, at Schulstraße 11, at 8:30 in the morning in his parents' home in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany. He was baptised the same day. He is the third and youngest child of

Election to the papacy
Benedict XVI was elected the 265th pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected pope since Pope Clement XII (1730–1740).

On the morning of 28 February 2013, Benedict met with the full College of Cardinals and in the early afternoon flew by helicopter to the papal

Contraception and HIV/AIDS
In 2005, the pope listed several ways to combat the spread of HIV, including chastity, fidelity in

Academic career: 1951–1977
Ratzinger began as a chaplain at the parish St. Martin, Moosach, in Munich in 1951. Ratzinger became a professor at the University of Bonn in 1959, with his inaugural lecture on "The God of Faith and the God of Philosophy". In

The official style of the former Pope in English is His Holiness Benedict XVI, Supreme Pontiff Emeritus or Pope Emeritus. Less formally he is referred to as Emeritus Pope or Roman Pontifex Emeritus. Moreover, according to the 1983 Code of Canon Law he

Benedict is known to be deeply interested in classical music, and is an accomplished pianist. His favorite composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, of whose music he said: "His music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy of human