Posted on 12/31/2022 5:34:54 PM PST by marshmallow
Here is a look back at the key dates and events in the life of Pope Benedict XVI:
1927 — Joseph Ratzinger is born on Holy Saturday, April 16, in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn, Germany, and is baptized on that same day.
1936 — Ratzinger makes his first Communion in the parish church of the Assumption of Our Lady on March 15.
1937 — Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber administers the sacrament of confirmation to 10-year-old Joseph Ratzinger on June 9 in the Traunstein, Germany, parish church of St. Oswald.
1939 — At age 12, Ratzinger enters a minor seminary in Traunstein in the same year that German dictator Adolf Hitler orders the invasion of Poland and World War II begins.
1941 — By law, Ratzinger is required to enter the “Hitler Youth” at age 14. He finds the group wretched and never wears his uniform, according to Benedict XVI’s biographer, Peter Seewald.
1943 — At age 16, he is drafted into the German army and conscripted into the military’s auxiliary anti-aircraft service. He is sent to Hungary where he sets tank traps in the final months of World War II.
1945 — Ratzinger deserts the army with his brother, Georg, to rejoin the seminary. He is briefly held in a prisoner of war camp. Benedict would later say that the Nazis led “a sinister regime” that “banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good.”
1946–1951 — He studies philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and at the higher school in Freising.
A Ratzinger family photo with (L to R) Maria, Georg, Maria (mother), Joseph, and Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., circa 1951. Photo courtesy of Ignatius Press.
1951
June 29 — Ratzinger is ordained a priest on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.......
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...
Some just can’t leave the ‘abuse’ theme alone.
I was so happy when Ratzinger became Pope. Still not sure why he resigned and very disappointed by it. Frank has definitely got to go though.
Big fan of Pope Benedict…but I think his decision to retire was not a good one.
For later
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