Pope Benedict XVI
Arms: Chapé embowed or and gules, in dexter chief a Moorish king’s head sable with crown collar and earring gules, in sinister chief a bear passant bendwise sable bearing a pack gules strapped argent, and in base an escallop or
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was born on 16 April 1927, ordained a priest in 1951 in Bavaria, appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Cardinal in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. In 1981 he was appointed Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was elected pope as Benedict XVI in 2005 Since 1968 he had become increasingly conservative in his views and actions. On 11 February 2013 he announced his resignation due to “lack of strength of mind and body” due to advancing age.
He is the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415 and the first to do so on his own initiative since Pope Celestine V in 1294.
He was preceeded by Pope John Paul II and succeeded by Pope Francis.
The artwork is a rendering by John Hamilton Gaylor
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