Why in news? Pope Benedict XVI passed away.

Highlights

About Pope Benedict XVI

• He was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013
• Predecessor: John Paul II
• Successor: Francis
• Born Name: Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger
• Embarked on an academic career and established himself as a highly regarded theologian by the late 1950s
• Appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia
• Previous post: Dean of the College of Cardinals
• Religious Views: originally a liberal theologian, but adopted conservative views
• Revival : several traditions, including elevating the Tridentine Mass.
• Reintroduced traditional papal vestments, for which reason he was called “the pope of aesthetics”.
• He was described as “the main intellectual force in the Church” since the mid-1980s.
• Resignation :First by a pope to voluntary resign since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first on a pope’s initiative since Celestine V in 1294.
• Motto : ‘Cooperators of the truth’
• School: Platonism and Augustinism
• Main interests: Christian theology ecclesiology
• Notable ideas: Rejection of dehellenization and Hermeneutic of continuity