VATICAN CITY — Pope emeritus Benedict XVI was the first pope in 600 years to resign. Here are some highlights from his life.
April 16, 1927: Born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn, Germany, the youngest of three children born to Joseph and Maria Ratzinger.
1943-1945: German air defense assistant and infantryman; he is imprisoned in 1945 in the American camp for prisoners of war in Neu-Ulm.
June 29, 1951: Ordained with his brother Georg Ratzinger in Freising.
1969-1977: Professor at the University of Regensburg.
March 25, 1977: Appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
June 27, 1977: Pope Paul VI ordains him a cardinal.
November 25, 1981: Appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II; he takes the post in March 1982.
April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies.
April 8, 2005: As dean of the College of Cardinals, Ratzinger presides over John Paul II’s funeral.
April 19, 2005: He is elected the 265th pope in one of the fastest conclaves in history. He chooses the name Benedict XVI because he is merely a “simple and humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.”
April 24, 2005: He is installed as pontiff with a mass.
August 18-21, 2005: First trip abroad for International Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
September 24, 2005: Meets with dissident theologian Hans Kung at the pope’s summer residence.
December 25, 2005: Signs the first encyclical “God is love”, published on January 25, 2006.
May 28, 2006: During a trip to Poland, he visits the Auschwitz concentration camp.
September 12, 2006: During a visit to Germany, he gives a speech at the University of Regensburg that angers Muslims; citing a Byzantine emperor who called some of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings “evil and inhumane,” especially “his command to him to propagate the faith by means of the sword.”
April 16, 2007: Completes the first volume of “Jesus of Nazareth” on his 80th birthday.
May 27, 2007: Signs letter to Catholics in China urging them to unite under his authority, published June 30.
July 7, 2007: Removes restrictions on celebrating the Old Latin Mass in an important gesture to traditional Catholics.
April 20, 2008: During a visit to the United States, prays for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks at ground zero.
July 19, 2008: During a visit to Australia for International Youth Day, he meets with victims of clergy sexual abuse and during a mass apologizes for their suffering.
January 21, 2009: Removes excommunication for Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson and three other ultra-traditionalist bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X, sparking outrage. The decree was released on January 24.
March 10, 2009: Acknowledges the Vatican’s mistakes in the Williamson case and says the Vatican should make better use of the internet to avoid future controversies. The letter was published on March 12.
March 17, 2009: On his way to Cameroon, he tells reporters aboard the papal plane that condoms are not the solution to AIDS and can make the problem worse, prompting widespread criticism.
May 11, 2009: During a visit to the Holy Land, lays a wreath at the Yad Vashen memorial in Jerusalem, says Holocaust victims “lost their lives, but they will never lose their names.”
June 29, 2009: Signs the third encyclical “Charity in truth”, published on July 7, 2009.
July 17, 2009: Fractured right wrist one fall night at the pope’s summer home.
October 20, 2009: The Vatican announces that the pope is facilitating mass conversion to Catholicism for Anglicans.
March 19, 2010: Rebukes Irish bishops for “serious errors of judgement” in handling clergy sexual abuse, but fails to mention Vatican responsibility in letter to Irish parishioners published March 20.
The issue of abuse marked his pontificate.
May 1, 2010: Orders a major reform of the Legionaries of Christ after a Vatican investigation found the founder a fraud.
September 16-19, 2010: During the first official visit by a pope to Britain, he meets Queen Elizabeth II, Archbishop of Canterbury Rown Williams, and beatifies Anglican convert John Harry Newman.
Nov 20, 2010: Modifies controversial condom-AIDS comment in book, says male prostitutes who use condoms could be taking the first step toward more responsible sexuality.
March 2, 2011: Issues a lengthy exoneration of Jews for the death of Christ in the book “Jesus of Nazareth, Part II,” published March 10.
May 1, 2011: Beatifies John Paul II in front of 1.5 million people.
June 28, 2011: Tweets for the first time, announcing the launch of the Vatican news portal.
October 6, 2012: The pope’s former butler is convicted on charges of stealing private letters from the pope and leaking them to the press.
February 11, 2013: Reveals in Latin that he will leave the papacy on February 28 during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, surprising even his closest aides.
February 28, 2013: He leaves Vatican City in a helicopter for Castel Gandolfo, where he begins his final journey as a “simple pilgrim.”
March 23, 2013: Receives Pope Francis for lunch at Castel Gandolfo; the two men pray side by side and Francis declares: “We are brothers.”
April 28, 2014: Joins Francis at the altar to canonize St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII, the first time a sitting pope and a retired pope have celebrated Mass together.
April 11, 2019: In an essay, he blames the clergy sex abuse scandal on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and an absence of God.
January 2020: Contributes to a book upholding celibacy for priests at a time when Francis considered an exception, prompting calls for rules governing future “popes emeritus.”
June 18, 2020: He travels to Germany to visit his ailing brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who dies two weeks later on July 1.
July 16, 2021: Pope Francis reverses the relaxation of restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass.
January 21, 2022: He is censured for his handling of four sexual abuse cases while he was a bishop in Munich in the 1970s and 1980s in an independent report commissioned by the German Church.
February 8, 2022: He apologizes for any “serious misconduct” in handling the case of the Munich priests, but denies having committed any wrongdoing personally or specifically.
December 28, 2022: Pope Francis announces that Benedict XVI is “very seriously ill”, requests special prayer and visits him at home.
December 31, 2022: Benedict XVI dies at 9:34 a.m. at his home in the Vatican Gardens at the age of 95.