Portal:Pope/Selected pope biography/June 2007

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Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI), born Joseph Alois

Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany is the 265th and reigning Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, and as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected on April 19, 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on April 24, 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on May 7, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship. He succeeded Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, 2005.