Benedict XVI meets with young confirmands at the San Siro stadium in Milan during the 7th World Meeting of Families on June 4, 2012.

Benedict XVI (1927-2022)

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope on April 19, 2005, taking the name Benedict XVI. Eight years later, on Feb. 11, 2013, the 85-year-old shocked the world with the announcement that he was resigning from the papacy. For the last 10 years as Pope Emeritus, Benedict has lived a life of prayer and solitude in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Gardens of the Vatican City State. He died Dec. 31, 2022, at age 95. 

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