By Courtney Mares 1927 — Joseph Ratzinger was born on Holy Saturday, April 16 in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn, Germany, and was baptized on the same day.
1nine36 — Ratzinger makes his First Communion in the parish church of the Assumption of Our Lady on March 15, 1937 — Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber administers the sacrament of confirmation to 10-year-old Joseph Ratzinger on June 9 in the parish church of Traunstein, Germany. St. Oswald. 1nine3nine – At the age of 12, Ratzinger entered a minor seminary in Traunstein the same year German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland and World War II began.
1941 – By law, Ratzinger is obliged to join the “Hitler Youth” at the age of 14. He found the organization depressing and never wore his uniform, according to Benedict’s biographer, Peter Seewald.
1943 – At the age of 16: He is drafted into the German Army and enlists in the Army’s auxiliary anti-aircraft service. He sends him to Hungary, where he set tank traps in the final months of World War II.
1945 — Ratzinger leaves the army with his brother Georg to enroll in the seminary. He was briefly held in a prisoner-of-war camp. Benedict would later say that the Nazis ran “a sinister regime” that “banished God and thus have become impervious to all that is true and good. “
1946–1951 — Studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and the University of Freising.
June 195129: Ratzinger is ordained a priest on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul at Freising Cathedral in the diocese of Munich with his brother Georg.
July 8 — The future pope gives his first Mass in St. Oswald at Traunstein. Es a main mass with the music of Joseph Haas’ opus 88, the Mass of Christ the King.
1953 — Ratzinger completes his doctorate in theology at the University of Munich. His thesis is entitled “The People and House of God in the Doctrine of the Church of St. Augustine. “
1957 — The priest obtains the title of university professor of dogma and theology at the Higher School of Philosophy and Theology in Freising. He taught in Bonn from 1959 to 1969, in Münster from 1963 to 1966 and in Tübingen from 1966 to 1969.
1962-1965 – Ratzinger serves as theological advisor to the Second Vatican Council in Rome to Cardinal Joseph Frings, Archbishop of Cologne. Attend the 4 sessions of the Council.
1969 — Ratzinger is appointed professor of dogmatic theology and dogma at the University of Regensburg. In a German radio program, he predicts that the Catholic Church will be a smaller, “more spiritual” Church in the future.
1972 – Ratzinger co-founds the theological journal Communio with Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri De Lubac.
March 197724: Pope Paul VI appoints Ratzinger archbishop of Munich and Freising.
May 28 — Ratzinger is consecrated bishop, opting for the episcopal motto “Companion of Work in Truth. “
June 27 – Pope Paul VI makes Ratzinger a cardinal in a consistory of St. Peter’s Basilica.
1981 – Pope John Paul II appoints Ratzinger prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
1982 — Ratzinger moves to Italy to join the Roman Curia. He resigned as Archbishop of Munich and Freising on 15 February 1982. He is also president of the Biblical Commission and the Pontifical International Theological Commission.
1986–1992 – Ratzinger is president of the Editorial Committee of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
1997 – Ratzinger asks Pope John Paul II to allow him to resign as a curial so he can paint in the Vatican library, but is refused.
2002 — Ratzinger dean of the College of Cardinals at the age of 75.
April 8 — Ratzinger presides at the Holy Mass for the funeral of Pope John Paul II. April 19 — Ratzinger is elected 265th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and takes office as Benedict XVI.
June – Two months into his pontificate, Benedict sanctions Father Marcel Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, accused of sexually abusing seminarians and fathering children.
August 17: Benedict XVI travels to his local Germany for World Youth Day in Cologne in his first foreign country as pope.
2006Jan25 — Benedict XVI promulgates the encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is love).
May 26 — The Pope’s stopover at the Auschwitz concentration camp a pastoral stopover in Poland.
September 12: Benedict delivers “The Regensburg Address. “
November 30: The Pope travels to Turkey, where he prays in silence with Muslim leader Mustafa Cagrici at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
May 200715 — The book of the Pope, Jesus of Nazareth, is in the United States.
May 27 — Pope Benedict XVI writes a letter to Catholics in China.
July 7 — The Pope promulgates Summorum Pontificum, which greatly expands the authorization to celebrate Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Missal.
July 13: Pope Benedict XVI announces that the Vatican will be the world’s first “carbon neutral” state.
Nov. 30 — The Vatican publishes Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi on the distinctive feature of hope. Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
July 13-21: Benedict XVI travels to Australia for World Youth Day and offers a historic apology for sexual abuse committed by clergy on his trip.
October 26 — The Pope opens the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church in the Vatican.
January 23, 2009: Benedict XVI launches a YouTube channel in the Vatican.
May 8-15 — During an apostolic adventure in the Holy Land, Benedict XVI visits Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he calls for cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis.
June 19 — The Pope opens the Year for Priests of the Church, which will last until June 19, 2010.
July 7: Benedict promulgates the encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth).
July 10: The Pope receives U. S. President Barack Obama in a personal meeting at the Vatican.
July 17: Benoît spends six weeks in a cast after falling and breaking his wrist during summer vacation.
October — The Pope presides at the opening Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica of the Special Synod of Bishops for Africa.
November 4 – Benedict XVI signs the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus on ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church.
December 3: Pope Benedict XVI opens the Holy See’s diplomatic headquarters with Russia after a personal meeting with President Dmitry A. Medvedev.
2010 March 20 — Benedict XVI publishes a pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland in light of the sexual abuse crisis.
April 2 – Pope Benedict XVI venerates the Shroud in Turin, Italy.
September 16-19 — The Pope travels to the United Kingdom, presides over the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
October 10 — Pope Benedict gives the opening Mass of the Special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East.
November 6 and 7 — Benedict XVI visits the historic pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for his Holy Year and consecrates the Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona. May 20111 — Pope Benedict XVI presides over the beatification of Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square.
August 18: Benoît participates in World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.
September 22-25: Benedict XVI makes his third and final pope in his local Germany.
January 6, 2012: Benedict XVI appoints 22 new cardinals, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.
March 23-29 — The Pope visits Mexico and Cuba.
Sept. 14-16 — Benedict XVI visits Lebanon in what will be the last foreigner of his pontificate.
October 6: The Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, is sentenced to more than a year for stealing Vatican documents.
October 7 – Benedict XVI proclaims St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen the Church.
October — The Pope opens the Church’s Year of Faith.
October 21 – Pope Benedict canonizes seven saints, St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
October 28 — Offers the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.
December 12: Benedict becomes the first pope to post on Twitter, the account @Pontifiex.
2013Feb. 11 — Benedict XVI shocks the world with the announcement in Latin of his retirement at the age of 85.
February 14 – In his last public words as pope, Benedict XVI says, “I am a pilgrim who begins the last level of his pilgrimage on Earth. “
February 28 – Taking the name “Pope Emeritus,” Benedict XVI travels from Vatican City to Castel Gandolfo by helicopter.
May 2: Benedict moves into the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, a small four-story building on the state walls of Vatican City. He remained there in a nonviolent retreat until his death.
2014Feb. 22 — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI emerges from seclusion to attend the first consistory of his successor for the formation of new cardinals. April 27 — Pope Emeritus attends the canonization of Blesseds John Paul II and John XXIII in St. Peter’s Square.
September 28: Pope Francis describes Benedict as “a sensible grandfather. “
2015 — Pope Emeritus Benedict attends the launch of Pope Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy.
2016 — Archbishop Georg Gänswein, longtime non-public secretary to the pope emeritus, says Benedict XVI uses a walker to get around.
2019 — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI publishes an essay April 10 on the Church’s sexual abuse scandal, examining the abuse crisis in the context of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the simultaneous collapse of theology and its effects on priests. Life and training.
January 2020: Benedict XVI contributes an essay to an e-book protecting priestly celibacy.
June 18-22: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI travels to Germany to be closer to his brother, Georg. During the four-day trip, the pope emeritus can say goodbye for the last time to his older brother, who died the following week, July 1.
September 4: Benedict XVI becomes the longest-serving pope when he surpasses Pope Leo XIII, who died at the age of 140 in 1903.
January 20, 2022: A report on the handling of abuse cases in the German archdiocese of Munich and Freising accuses Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI of handling four cases during his tenure as archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.
Feb. 8: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI apologizes to abuse survivors in a nearly 1,000-word letter in reaction to the Munich abuse report.
July 11: False that Benoît has died circulates on social networks.
December 31 — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at the age of 95.
New Year’s Eve, Pope I
1 John 2:18–21
Psalm 96:1-2, 11-13
John 1:1–18
God’s love for us was revealed when He sent His Only Begotten Son into the world.