His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, (in Latin Benedictus PP. XVI), (born April 16, 1927, and baptized Joseph Alois Ratzinger), was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005. As such, he is Bishop of Rome (or better Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Rome), Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, and Supreme Pontiff of the worldwide Catholic Church in union with Rome, including those Eastern Rite Churches in communion with the Holy See. He will be formally installed as pontiff during the Mass of Papal Installation on April 24, 2005.
At 78 years old, he is the oldest pope elected since Pope Clement XII in 1730, and is the first German pontiff since Adrian VI (1522–1523) who was born in what is now the Netherlands, but which was then seen as part of Germany. The last pope to come from within the modern boundaries of Germany was Victor II, who died in 1057. Benedict XVI is the eighth German pope; the first was Gregory V (996-999). The last Benedict, Benedict XV, served as pontiff from 1914 to 1922 and thus reigned during World War I... more ...
His controversial views on homosexuality (Wikipedia)
Gay rights advocates widely criticized his 1986 letter to the Bishops of the church, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, in which he stated that homosexuality is a “strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.” In an earlier letter dated September 30, 1985, Ratzinger reprimanded Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen for his liberal views on women, gays, and doctrinal issues, stating, "The Archdiocese should withdraw all support from any group, which does not unequivocally accept the teaching of the Magisterium concerning the intrinsic evil of homosexual activity." Archbishop Hunthausen was temporarily relieved of his authority.
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