BIOGRAPHY

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927, Holy Saturday, in Marktl am Inn, in the Diocese of Passau, Germany. He was baptized that same day. Writing about that event in his memoirs he notes: “To be the first person to be baptized in the New Waters of Easter was seen as a very significant act on the part of Providence. I have always been filled with sentiments of gratitude for having been immersed in the Paschal Mystery in this way;...the more I reflect on it, the more I find it appropriate in regards to the nature of our human life: we still await the definitive Easter, we are still not in the fullness of light, but we journey towards it with confidence.”

It is difficult for Ratzinger to point to a specific city as his native one. As his father was a rural police officer, he was frequently transferred, and the entire family with him, and so there were many moves throughout his childhood.

In 1929, the Ratzinger family moved to Tittmoning, a small town on the Salzach River, on the border with Austria.

In December of 1932, because of his father's open criticism of Nazi socialism, the Ratzinger family was forced to move to Auschau am Inn at the foot of the Alps.

In 1937, Cardinal Ratzinger's father retired and the whole family moved to Hufschlag, on the outskirts of the city of Traunstein, where Joseph would spend most of his adolescence. It was there that he began in his studies of the classical languages of Latin and Greek.

In 1939 he entered the seminary at Traunstein, taking the first step in his ecclesiastical career.

In 1943, he and his fellow students were recruited by the Flak—an anti-air squadron—but were nonetheless allowed to attend classes three times per week.

In September of 1944, having reached military age, Ratzinger is released from the Flak and returns home. In November he started basic training for the German infantry, but due to his poor health, he was exempted from the more physical aspects of the program.

In the spring of 1945, as the Allied forces were closing in, Ratzinger left the military and returned to his home at Traunstein. When the American forces finally made it to his city, they established an operations center in the Ratzinger home and, identifying Joseph as a German soldier, he was held as a prisoner of war.

On June 19 of that same year he was freed and returned to his home in Traunstein. His brother, Georg, returned home in July. In November, both he and his brother Georg reentered the seminary.

In 1947 Ratzinger entered the Herzogliches Georgianum, a theological institute tied to the University of Munich.

On June 29, 1951, Josef and his brother Georg were ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Faulhaber at the Cathedral of Freising, on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. From 1952 to 1959, he was a faculty member of the Higher School of Philosophy and Theology in Freising.

In 1953 he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Munich. He also published his first book, related with his doctorate, entitled, “Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche” (The People and the House of God in the teachings of Augustins Lehre on the Church”).

Ratzinger dedicated his “Habilitationsschrift”—an original research project in preparation for teaching at the university level—to the theological work of St. Bonaventure.

In April of 1959, Ratzinger became Chair of Fundamental Theology at the University of Bonn. In August of that year, his father passed away. From 1962 to 1965 he attended the four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as an advisor to Cardinal Frings of Cologne.

In 1963 he moved to the University of Münster and in December of that year, his mother died.

In 1966 he was named professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen. His appointment was strongly supported by Professor Hans Küng. Ratzinger had first met Küng in 1957 at a theology congress in Innsbruck. After reviewing the doctoral work of Küng on Karl Barth, Ratzinger said: “I had many questions to ask him about that book, because while his theological style was not my own, I had enjoyed reading it and the author gained my respect. I was impressed by his openness and straightforwardness. Thus a good friendship was established between us, even when sometime later, we started having serious discussions about the theology of the council.”

In 1968, a wave of student uprisings swept Europe, and Marxism rapidly became the dominant intellectual system in Tübingen, indoctrinating not only a large majority of students but also professors as well. As a witness of the subordination of religion to Marxist political ideology, Ratzinger noted: “[Religion] was being used by the tyrannical, brutal and cruel ideologies.  That experience made it clear to me that the abuse of the faith should precisely be resisted if one wanted to maintain the desire of the Council.”

In 1969, disillusioned by his encounter with the radial ideology of Tübingen, he moved back to Bavaria, where he became a professor at the University of Ratisbona. Later he was named Dean, then Vice President. That year he was also named theological advisor to the German bishops.

In 1972, Ratzinger, von Balthasar, De Lubac, and others launched Communio, a magazine of Catholic theology and culture.

In March of 1977, he was named Archbishop of Münich and Freising, becoming the first diocesan priest in more than 80 years to assume the leadership of such a large and important archdiocese. He was urged to accept the post by his confessor, and he chose as his Episcopal motto the phrase from the Third Letter of John, “Co-workers in the truth,” noting, “On the one hand, it seemed to describe the relationship between my previous work as professor and my new mission. Despite all of the differences, what was in question and continued to be so was the following of the truth, to be at its service. And on the other hand, because in today's world the subject of the truth has almost completely disappeared, and it seems like something too great for man, and yet, everything crumbles without the truth.”

Ratzinger was consecrated on May 28 by Bishop Josef Stange of Würzburg. In June of the same year, he was made Cardinal-priest by Pope Paul VI and received the titular parish of Santa Maria Consolatrice. That year he also attended the IV Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In 1978 he participated in the conclave of August 25-26, which elected John Paul I, who named him special envoy to the III International Mariological Congress in Guayaquil, Ecuador, September 16-24. In October of that year he participated in the conclave that elected Pope John Paul II.

In 1980 Ratzinger was named by Pope John Paul II to preside over the Special Synod for the Laity. Soon after, the Pope asked him to head the Congregation for Catholic Education. Ratzinger declined, saying he did not think he should leave his post in Münich so soon.

In November of 1981, he accepted the Pope's invitation to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and President of the International Theological Commission.

On February 15, 1982, he left his post as Archbishop of Münich-Freising.

In 1983 he attended the VI Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In 1985 he attended the II Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

Starting in 1986 he presided over the Commission for the preparation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and after six years of work (1986-92), he presented the new Catechism to the Holy Father.

In 1987 he attended the VII Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In 1990 he attended the VIII Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In 1991 he attended the I Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In 1993 he was elevated to Cardinal-bishop and assigned the titular see of Velletri-Segni.

In 1994 he attended the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, and the IX Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, also at the Vatican.

In 1997 he attended the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In 1998 he attended the Special Assembly for Asia of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

On November 9, 1998, he was elected Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals. That same year he attended the Special Assembly for Oceania of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, November 22-December 12.

In 1999 he was the Pope's special envoy for the celebrations of the XII centenary of the creation of the Diocese of Paderborn, Germany, on January 3.

In October of the same year he attended the II Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican.

In November of 2002, the Holy Father approved his election as Dean of the College of Cardinals.

Until the death of John Paul II, he was member of the Secretariat of State, the Congregations for the Eastern Churches, Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Bishops, Evangelization of Peoples, and Catholic Education, as well as member of the Pontifical Council for the Unity of Christians, and the Pontifical Council for Culture. He was also member of the Commission for Latin America and the Ecclesia Dei Commission.

He was asked by the Holy Father to compose the reflections for the Good Friday Way of the Cross in 2005.

Doctorates:

1984 Doctor Honoris Causa - College of St. Thomas in St. Paul / Minnesota

1985 Doctor Honoris Causa - Catholic University of Eichstätt

1986 Doctor Honoris Causa - Catholic University of Lima

1986 Doctor Honoris Causa Pontificial Theological Faculty in Lima

1988 Doctor Honoris Causa – Catholic University of Lublin.

1998 Doctor Honoris Causa – University of Navarre, Pamplona.

1999 Doctor Honoris Causa - Libre Maria SS Assunta (LUMSA) University Roma.

2000 Doctor Honoris Causa – Department of Theology, University of Wroclaw

:: Official biography released by the Holy See