(CNN - Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Posted: 1:53 PM EDT (1753 GMT)) -- The newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, was one of the most powerful men in the Vatican under Pope John Paul II and is widely acknowledged as a leading theologian.
As dean of the College of Cardinals, Ratzinger called the cardinals to Rome for the conclave that elected him the 265th pope. Ratzinger, who turned 78 on Saturday, he has been head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith since 1981. In that position, he maintained strict discipline on church doctrine, including disciplining church officials who differed on church policy.
He has been the driving force behind the Vatican's crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination.
As a young priest, Ratzinger was on the progressive side of theological debates, and served at Vatican II under reform-minded Cardinal Josef Frings, according to CNN Vatican analyst John Allen.
Allen, the author of a biography of Ratzinger entitled "Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith," wrote that Ratzinger shifted to the right after the student revolutions of 1968.
Allen described Ratzinger as a shy and gentle person whose former students speak of him as one of the best-prepared and most-caring professors they ever encountered.
Son of a police officer
Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927, in Marktl Am Inn, Germany. He was the son of a police officer who came from a traditional family of farmers in Lower Bavaria, according to his Vatican biography.
He spent his adolescent years in Traunstein, and was called into the auxiliary anti-aircraft service in the last months of World War II. He deserted the Germany army in 1945 and returned to Traunstein, where he was taken prisoner by U.S. troops.
In June 1945, he was released from a U.S. POW camp and returned home, hitching a ride on a milk truck.
From 1946 to 1951, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and at another school in Freising. He was ordained a priest in 1951.
In 1953, he received his doctorate in theology. His doctoral thesis was titled, "The People and House of God in St. Augustine's Doctrine of the Church."
Four years later, he was qualified as a university teacher and taught dogma and fundamental theology at four different German universities.
In 1962, at age 35, he served as a consultant during Vatican II to Cardinal Frings, who was the archbishop of Cologne, Germany.
In 1969, he was named professor of dogmatic theology and of the history of dogma at the University of Regensburg, where he was also named vice president.
In March 1977, he was named archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI. When he was consecrated on May 28, 1977, he was the first diocesan priest after 80 years to take over the pastoral ministry of the large Bavarian diocese.
A month later, he was elevated to cardinal by Pope Paul VI. He was archbishop of Munich until November 25, 1981, when he was nominated by Pope John Paul II to be the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a position he held until his election as pope. He became dean of the College of Cardinals in November 2002.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04 ... index.html
