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Pope Benedict XVI

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MAY 18: Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel (centre L) is accompanied by Prefect of the Pontifical House and former personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, Georg Ganswein (centre R) to attend a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on May 18, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican.

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  • Africa, Asia see boom in priests as Europe withers

    (AP) -- The number of Catholic priests in Africa and Asia has shot up over the past decade while decreasing in Europe, mirroring trends in the numbers of Catholic faithful that helped lead to the election of Pope Francis as the first non-European pope in   Read more »

  • Pope Francis tells Benedict: "We're brothers"

    (AP) -- Pope Francis has traveled to Castel Gandolfo to have lunch with his predecessor Benedict XVI in an historic and potentially problematic melding of the papacies that has never before confronted the Catholic Church.The Vatican said the two popes em   Read more »

  • Francis pays tribute to Benedict, reflects on age

    (AP) -- Pope Francis has paid a heartfelt tribute to his predecessor Benedict XVI, saying his faith and teaching had "enriched and invigorated" the Catholic Church and would remain its spiritual patrimony forever.Francis offered the respects during an au   Read more »

  • Pope displays humility during first day on job

    VATICAN CITY -- Among Pope Francis' first acts as pontiff were delivering a late-afternoon homily in Italian instead of the lofty Latin preferred by his predecessors and traveling to morning prayers in a modest sedan rather than the official papal Merced   Read more »

  • Kass: Pope Francis should heed warnings from Pope Benedict XVI

    Jorge Bergoglio, the son of Italian immigrants born in Buenos Aires, doesn't fit the image of a high and mighty churchman in charge of an empire of more than 1 billion people.He's a humble man and, at 76, not young. Until quite recently, he rode the bus   Read more »

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About Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on 16 April 1927) is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church, which includes the Latin Church and the twenty-two sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches. Often regarded as the present successor to Saint Peter, Benedict XVI was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, on 7 May 2005. A native of Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship.

from Wikipedia

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