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World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day 2008

The 21st World Youth Day 2008 will take place in Homebush, Sydney, Australia. This was announced by Pope Benedict XVI at the closing mass of World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany. The theme of this World Youth Day will be "Take up your cross and follow me" (Mk 8:34)

See also


- World Youth Day

External links


- [http://www.kreuz.net/article.1736.html And the cup goes to SYDNEY]
- [http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16338222-28698,00.html Sydney wins Youth Day '08]
- [http://www.worldyouthday.com.au/WYDsyd.html World Youth Day]
- [http://www.sdswyd.com/ Salvatorian's Australia]
- [http://www.worldyouthday.com.au/pdfs/WYD2008.pdf Press Release] Category:2008 Category:Sydney

Homebush

Homebush is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located in the municipality of Strathfield. It was established in the 1800s by the colony's then assistant surgeon D'arcy Wentworth. According to local government historian Michael Jones, "Wentworth is popularly credited with having called the area after his 'home in the bush', although Homebush is also a place in Kent." (Jones, pg 15). Homebush lies at the southern end of Homebush Bay, an inlet of the Parramatta River. The Sydney Olympic Park was constructed on the shores of Homebush Bay for the 2000 Summer Olympics. In 2008 it is to have the honor of hosting the World Youth Day 2008.

Schools

Local schools include Homebush Public School, Strathfield Girls High School and Homebush Boys Highschool. The schools in the area generally achieve high academic standards well above the average results for public schools.

World Youth Day 2008

Population

The population of the local government area including Homebush is 28,206 according the 2001 census. There are 13,862 men and 14,344 women.

References


- Jones, Michael (1985). Oasis in the West: Strathfield's first hundred years. North Sydney: Allen & Unwin Australia. ISBN 0-86861-407-6.

External links

Category:Suburbs of Sydney Category:Incomplete Sydney suburbs

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian state of New South Wales, as well as Australia's largest and oldest city (founded in 1788). With a metropolitan area population of 4.3 million and a population of approximately 146,297 people in the city proper (known as the "City of Sydney"), the Sydney metropolis is the largest financial, transport, trade and cultural centre in Australia. Sydney is a significant global and domestic tourist destination and is regularly declared to be one of the most beautiful and liveable cities in the world, admired for its harbour, beautiful coastline, warm and pleasant climate and cosmopolitan culture. Sydney significantly raised its global profile in recent years as the host city of the 2000 Olympics. It is also the host of the World Youth Day 2008. The city's name is pronounced . A resident of Sydney is popularly known as a "Sydneysider". Sydney is home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which are both recognized worldwide.

Geography

Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney Harbour Bridge towards the CBD skyline; the Opera House is visible in the background on the left]] Opera House Sydney is located in a coastal basin between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Blue Mountains to the west. The city features the largest natural harbour in the world, Port Jackson, and more than 70 harbour and ocean beaches, including the famous Bondi Beach. Sydney's urban area of 1,687 km² is similar to that of Greater London, although it has less than half of that city's population. The metropolitan area (Sydney Statistical Division) is 12,145 km², but much of this is national park and other unsettled land. The geographical coordinates of Sydney are 34 degrees south and 151 degrees east. Sydney occupies two geographical regions: the Cumberland Plain, a relatively flat or rolling region lying to the south and west of the harbour, and the Hornsby Plateau, a plateau north of the harbour, up to 200 m in elevation, dissected by forested valleys. The oldest parts of the city are located in the flat areas; the Hornsby Plateau, known as the North Shore, was slower to develop because of its hilly topography, and was mostly a quiet backwater until the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, linking it to the rest of the city. Much of the North Shore is upper-middle class suburban in character, with high-rise business districts at Chatswood and North Sydney. Sydney's central business district (CBD) extends southwards for about 2 km from Sydney Cove, the point of the first European settlement. Densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings including beautiful sandstone buildings such as the Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building are interspersed by several parks such as Wynyard and Hyde Parks. The CBD is bounded on the east side by a chain of parkland that extends from Hyde Park through the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens to Farm Cove on the harbour. The west side is bounded by Darling Harbour, a popular tourist precinct. Central Station marks the southern end of the CBD. George St is the Sydney CBD's main north-south thoroughfare. In the southern CBD, the streets run on a slightly angled grid pattern; in the older northern CBD, the routes are less logical, reflecting the ad-hoc development of bullock tracks in the early days of the city. (See the Sydney central business district article for more detail.) Sydney's streets tend to be narrower than those of other major Australian cities, reflecting this ad hoc development. Although the CBD dominated the city's business and cultural life in the early days, other business/cultural districts have developed in a radial pattern since World War II. As a result, the proportion of white-collar jobs located in the CBD declined from more than 60% at the end of World War II to less than 30% in 2004. The five most significant outer business districts are Parramatta in the central-west, Blacktown in the west, Liverpool in the southwest, Chatswood to the north, and Hurstville in the south. Although the city does not suffer from cyclones or significant earthquakes, the El Niño Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the oscillation. Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, notably in 1994 and 2002. The city is subject to infrequent severe hail storms and wind storms. In recent years, the city has faced water shortages. The levels in its main water storages, chief of which Warragamba Dam have fallen to such an extent that the state government has imposed a range of restrictions intended to reduce water consumption and is currently considering the introduction of a desalinated water plant.

History

Warragamba Dam The area surrounding Sydney Harbour (called Warrane by the aborigines) has been inhabited by Aboriginal tribes, notably the Eora and Cadigal, for at least 40,000 years. Although urbanisation has destroyed most evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), there are still rock carvings in several locations. European interest arose with the sighting of Botany Bay (now a southern suburb of Sydney) in 1770 by Lieutenant James Cook. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip in 1788. Phillip founded the colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789), in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. Prisoners were quickly set to work to build the settlement and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary; by 1847, convicts accounted for only 3.2% of the population. After a slow start, the town grew rapidly, with ships arriving from Ireland and England with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. The first of several gold rushes was in 1851, since which time the port of Sydney has seen many waves of people from around the world. With industrialisation Sydney expanded rapidly, and by the early 20th century it had a population well in excess of one million. Throughout the 20th century Sydney continued to expand with various new waves of European and (later) Asian immigration, resulting in its highly cosmopolitan atmosphere of the present day. Indeed, Sydney has the second highest immigrant population of any major world city, with 45% of the population being either migrants or children of migrants.

Historical population

Asian The majority of Sydneysiders are of British and Irish background. More recent arrivals have included Italians, Greeks, Lebanese, South Africans, Indians, Sudanese, Turks, Macedonians, Croatians, Serbs, Chinese and Vietnamese.
- 1800: 2,540 inhabitants
- 1820: 12,000
- 1851: 39,000
- 1871: 205,800
- 1901: 487,900
- 1925: 1,039,000
- 2003: 4 million
- 2050: 6 million (projected)

Timeline of events


- 1788: First European settlement established
- 1852: Sydney incorporated as a city
- 1855: New South Wales's first railway line linking Sydney with Parramatta
- 1870: Intercolonial Exhibition (1870)
- 1879: Sydney International Exhibition (1879)
- 1883: Parramatta - Intercolonial Juvenile Industrial Exhibition (1883)
- 1901: Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed in Sydney on January 1
- c. 1903: Overtook Melbourne as Australia's largest city
- 1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge completed
- 1942: Sydney attacked by Japanese submarines
- 1973: Sydney Opera House completed
- 2000: 2000 Summer Olympics

Government and politics

There is no overall governing body for the Sydney metropolitan area. There is a directly elected Lord Mayor of Sydney and an elected council, but these are responsible only for the City of Sydney, which takes in the central business area and some adjoining inner suburbs. The Lord Mayor, however, is sometimes treated as a representative of the whole city. The rest of the metropolitan area is divided into municipalities (see list of regions below). As is common in major metropolitan areas of most Australian states, these municipalities all have elected councils and are responsible for a range of functions delegated to them by the New South Wales State Government. Most citywide government activities are controlled by the state government. These include public transport, main roads, traffic control, policing, education above preschool level, and planning of major infrastructure projects. Because a large fraction of New South Wales' population lives in Sydney, state governments have traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of citywide governmental bodies, which would tend to rival the state government. For this reason, Sydney has always been a focus for the politics of both State and Federal Parliaments. For example, the electoral boundary of the City of Sydney local council area (mayoralty) have been significantly altered by state governments on at least four occasions since 1945, with advantageous effect to the governing party in the New South Wales Parliament at the time. As of 2005, the councils of the City of Sydney and the City of South Sydney are merged.

Landmarks

City of South Sydney The city's most famous landmarks are Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, both of which are located on Sydney Harbour. Sydney's principal river is the Parramatta River, which enters Sydney Harbour from the west. While the Harbour is famous for its racing yachts, the Boxing Day start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and 18ft skiffs, the river is used for dinghy sailing and rowing as well as recreational boating, racing small yachts, recreational fishing, and occasional Dragon Boat racing. Another famous landmark is the Sydney Tower (also known as Centrepoint Tower or the AMP Tower) which is the third tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere after Auckland's Sky Tower and the Gold Coast's Q1 Tower. Darling Harbour is also a popular tourist attraction. The Sydney Cricket Ground, which retains several beautiful 1920s-era grandstands, hosts several international cricket matches and the Sydney Swans Australian rules football team. The old adjacent showgrounds, for many years home to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, have been redeveloped as 20th Century Fox's large Sydney studios. Sydney Olympic Park, after holding a large proportion of the major events in the 2000 Olympic Games, now regularly hosts sporting and cultural events, especially at Telstra Stadium. Sydney is also known for the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Sydney is home to the Australian Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Australia. It also has 6 universities: the University of Sydney (USyd), the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Macquarie University (MaqU), the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), the University of Western Sydney (UWS), and two of the campuses of the Australian Catholic University (ACU).

Major Tourist attractions

Australian Catholic University Sydney is noted for its tourist attractions, including:
- Bondi Beach
- Chinatown, Sydney
- Chinese Garden
- Darling Harbour [http://www.darlingharbour.com/]
- Fox Studios Australia
- Hyde Park Barracks
- King Street Wharf
- New Year's fireworks
- Oceanworld, Manly.[http://www.sydneymate.com/travel_sydney_australia/Placesofinterest/ManlyOceanWorld/Manly_Ocean_World.htm]
- Powerhouse Museum, a museum of science and technology [http://www.phm.gov.au/]
- Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour. [http://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au/]
- Sydney Harbour, more correctly known as Port Jackson
- Sydney Harbour Bridge [http://www.bridgeclimb.com/]
- Sydney Mint
- Sydney Opera House
- Sydney Tower (aka Centrepoint Tower), CBD.[http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/]
- Taronga Zoo, Mosman.[http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/]
- The Rocks The Rocks

Culture

The Rocks Sydney boasts a full roster of musical, theatrical and artistic activity through the year, from the formal - including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Archibald Prize - to festivals, including the Sydney Festival, a celebration of free performances throughout January. Many internationally known Australian rock bands have had their conception in Sydney, which include most notably The Easybeats, AC/DC, Midnight Oil and INXS. Sydney has also been the inspiration for a very large number of Australian indie rock and mainstream pop songs from The Executives' classic 1968 "Summer Hill Road", to Paul Kelly's many songs about Sydney including "From St.Kilda to Kings Cross" and "Sydney From A 727", to John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong and songs like "King Street" and "Miracle in Marrickville" to The Mexican Spitfires "Sydney Town" and "Town Hall Steps" among many others. In fact in 2000 to coincide with the Sydney Olympic Games Sony Music released a compilation of 30 songs about Sydney called "Somewhere In Sydney" which featured the above mentioned artists as well as The Whitlams, Skyhooks, Cold Chisel, Roaring Jack and many others. See Songs about Sydney for a listing by suburb of songs about Sydney and environs. Sydney also has been home to many visual artists, from the lush pastoralism of Lloyd Rees's depictions of Sydney Harbour to Jeffrey Smart's portraits of bleak urban alienation. Sydney has four large and many smaller museums. The biggest are the Australian Museum (natural history and anthropology), Powerhouse Museum (science, technology and design), Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Sydney is also home to several large ethnic communities throughout the greater metropolitan area, and a significant gay community who host the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras along Oxford Street. To encourage sharing of cultural, trade and tourist links, the City of Sydney Council maintains sister city relations with the cities San Francisco, Nagoya, Wellington, Portsmouth, Guangzhou, and Florence.

Media

Sydney has two daily newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald is a centrist-to-left-leaning broadsheet, and is generally regarded as a "serious" paper, with extensive coverage of domestic and international news, culture and business. It is also the oldest newspaper in Australia, having been published regularly since 1831. The Herald's competitor, The Daily Telegraph, is a Murdoch-owned tabloid. It leans to the right and is generally sensationalist in its coverage. Both papers have tabloid counterparts published on Sunday, The Sun-Herald and the Sunday Telegraph respectively. Recently, an afternoon/evening tabloid owned by Murdoch known as the MX was added to Sydney's list of free newspapers, released at 15:00 and distributed every weekday at CBD railway stations and newsagents. The three commercial television networks (Seven, Nine & Ten), as well as the government networks (ABC & SBS) each have a presence in Sydney. The ABC has a large headquarters and production facility in Ultimo. SBS have their studios at Artarmon. Foxtel and Optus both supply pay-TV over their cable services to most parts of the metropolitan area. Limited digital TV transmissions serve Sydney, including a program guide (Channel 4), ABC news, sport, and weather items (Channel 41), ChannelNSW: Government and Public Information (Channel 45), Australian Christian Channel (Channel 46), MacquarieBank TV (Channel 47), SportsTAB (Channel 48), Expo Home Shopping (Channel 49), and Federal parliamentary broadcasts (audio only). Many AM and FM government, commercial and community radio services broadcast in the Sydney area. The local ABC radio station is 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL). The talkback radio genre is dominated by the perennial rivals 2GB and 2UE. Vega (radio network) is a new talk radio station on the FM band. Popular music stations include Triple M, 2Day FM and Nova 96.9. Triple J, 2SER and FBi Radio provide a more independent, local and alternative sound. There are also a number of community stations broadcasting to a particular language group or local area.

Sport

FBi Radio
- 9 teams in the National Rugby League
- Sydney Swans - Australian Rules Football ( AFL)
- Sydney FC - A-League Football
- 2 teams in the National Basketball League
- New South Wales Blues - First-class cricket
- Home of the New South Wales Waratahs - Super 14 Rugby union Team
- Sydney Blues - Australian Major League Baseball Sydney is arguably the major rugby league centre of the world. It is the headquarters of Australian Rugby League and home to 9 of the 15 National Rugby League teams. Sydney's most famous sports ground is the Sydney Cricket Ground, home to numerous sports being played for over a century, especially Cricket and Rugby. The Sydney Swans play their home game on the Sydney Cricket ground. Despite Rugby being the most dominant sport in Sydney, the Swam draw impressively large crows to their games. They had recent sucess in winning the 2005 AFL Grand Final. Sydney hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Transport

2000 Summer Olympics Sydney has a good mix of public and private transport, although in line with the "new world" (US, NZ, Canada, Australia), the car is predominent due to the city's sprawl, particularly in the west. Proper freeways were not built until the early 1980s, but since then the state government has embarked on an ambitious freeway building plan, most as tolled roads (motorways -- see below). Sydney is served by extensive train, bus and ferry networks. Sydney trains are run by CityRail, a corporation of the New South Wales State Government. Trains run as suburban commuter rail services in the outer suburbs, then converge in a frequent metro-like service in tunnels under the central business district (CBD). CityRail has been under fire because of sometimes unreliable train services. Buses serve the whole metropolitan area. In the city and inner suburbs the state-owned Sydney Buses has a monopoly. Services are frequent, even outside peak hours. In the outer suburbs, service is divided up between many private bus companies. These bus services are often criticised for their relative scarcity of service and sometimes complete lack of off-peak service. Sydney Ferries, another state government-owned organisation, runs extensive commuter and tourist ferry services on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River. Sydney has one light rail line, the Metro Light Rail, running from Central Station to Lilyfield. There is also a monorail which runs in a loop around the main shopping district and Darling Harbour. Sydney was formerly served by an extensive tram network, which was closed progressively in the 1950's and 1960's. Sydney is serviced by an extensive network of freeways and tollways (known as motorways) and roads. The most important trunk routes in the metropolitan area form the Metroad system. The newly built Cross City Tunnel is a tunnel that runs underneath the Sydney CBD to the Eastern Suburbs. The tunnel has caused disputes because of the fees to use the tunnel. Kingsford Smith International Airport, located in the suburb of Mascot, is Sydney's main airport, and the oldest continuously operating commercial airport in the world. The smaller Bankstown Airport mainly serves private and general aviation. There are light aviation airfields at Hoxton Park and Camden. RAAF Base Richmond lies to the north-west of the city.

Regions and suburbs

The extensive area covered by metropolitan Sydney is formally divided into more than 300 suburbs (for addressing and postal purposes), and formally administered by about 38 separate local government areas (in addition to the extensive responsibilities of the New South Wales State government and its agencies). The City of Sydney itself covers a fairly small area comprising downtown Sydney and neighbouring inner-city suburbs. In addition, there are a number of regional descriptions which are used informally to conveniently describe large sections of the metropolitan area. However it should be noted that there are many suburbs which are not conveniently described by any of the following informal regional categories.

Regions of Sydney

Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Inner West, Northern Beaches, North Shore, Southern Sydney, South-eastern Sydney, South-western Sydney, Western Sydney

Local government areas

the City of Sydney, as well as:
- Ashfield
- Auburn
- Bankstown
- Baulkham Hills
- Blacktown
- Botany Bay
- Burwood
- Camden
- Campbelltown
- Canada Bay
- Canterbury
- Fairfield
- Hawkesbury
- Holroyd
- Hornsby
- Hunter's Hill
- Hurstville
- Kogarah
- Ku-ring-gai
- Lane Cove
- Leichhardt
- Liverpool
- Manly
- Marrickville
- Mosman
- North Sydney
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Pittwater
- Randwick
- Rockdale
- Ryde
- Strathfield
- Sutherland
- Warringah
- Waverley
- Willoughby
- Woollahra

Selected suburbs and localities

:Main articles: List of Sydney suburbs, :Category:Suburbs of Sydney & :Category:Sydney localities Cabramatta, Castle Hill, Chinatown, Sydney, Darlinghurst, Glebe, Hornsby, Hurstville, Kings Cross, Manly, Newtown, Paddington, Parramatta, Redfern, Surry Hills

Books

"Leviathan: the unauthorised biography of Sydney" by John Birmingham, Vintage Books, 2000.

References

See also


- Sydney Riot of 1879
- 2005 Sydney race riots
- Crime in Sydney
- List of cities in Australia
- List of Australian television channels
- List of Australian radio stations
- Sydney Anglicans
- Westies (people)
- Easties (people)
- Trams in Sydney

External links


- [http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ City of Sydney Official Homepage]
- [http://www.sydney.com.au/ Sydney the Harbour City]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-33.857160,151.215048&spn=0.020262,0.030088&t=k&hl=en Sydney Opera House on Google Maps]
-
- [http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/trafficreports/cameras/sydneyharbourbridge.html Sydney Harbour Bridge Webcam]
- [http://www.warrenfrost.net/webcam.php Webcam View of Sydney Harbour from the Suburb of Kirribilli]
- [http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au Sydney Metropolitan Strategy] - A NSW State Government initiative to guide growth and change in the Sydney Metropolitan Area over the next 30 years.
- [http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDN10064.txt Sydney Weather Forecast]
- [http://www.todi-media.com Sydney Virtual Tour] Information, Animations, Photos and Videos
- [http://photosydney.blogspot.com Photos and Information on Sydney life - PhotoSydney]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/pacific/australia/sydney/ Pictures of Sydney - Terra Galleria]
- [http://flickr.com/photos/tags/sydney Flickr: Photos tagged with sydney]
- [http://www.sydneywebcam.com.au/ A different photo of Sydney every day] Category:Australian capital cities Category:Cities in New South Wales Category:Coastal cities Category:Port cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Metropolitan areas
- ko:시드니 ja:シドニー simple:Sydney

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI; born April 16, 1927, as Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany) is the 265th reigning pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. He was elected on April 19, 2005, in a papal conclave over which he presided in his capacity as dean of the College of Cardinals. He celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on April 24, 2005, and was enthroned in the Basilica of St. John Lateran (Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano) on May 7, 2005. One of the most influential academic theologians since the 1960s and author of many books, he is viewed as conservative and a close ally of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. He served as professor at various German universities, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dean of the College of Cardinals before becoming Pope. In response to an increasing de-Christianization in many developed countries, where secular humanism, secularism, and secularization are influential, the Pope particularly emphasizes what he sees as the need for Europe to turn back to its fundamental Christian values.

Overview

secularization Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected pope since Clement XII in 1730. He served longer as a cardinal before being elected pope than any pope since Benedict XIII (elected 1724). He is the ninth German pope, the last being the Dutch-German Adrian VI (1522–1523). The last pope named Benedict was Benedict XV, an Italian who reigned from 1914 to 1922, during World War I. Benedict was born in Bavaria, Germany. He had a distinguished career as a university theologian before being made the archbishop of Munich and Freising; he was subsequently made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of June 27, 1977. He was appointed as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II in 1981 and was made the cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Velletri-Segni on April 5, 1993. In 1998, he was made the sub-dean of the College of Cardinals; later, on November 30, 2002, he became the dean and simultaneously the cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Ostia. He was the first dean of the college elected pope since Paul IV in 1555 and the first cardinal bishop elected pope since Pius VIII in 1829. Before becoming pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was already one of the most influential men in the Vatican, and was a close associate of the late John Paul II. He presided over the funeral of John Paul II and also over the Mass immediately preceding the 2005 conclave in which he was elected, in which he called on the assembled cardinals to hold fast to the doctrine of the faith. He was the public face of the church in much of the sede vacante period, although he ranked below the camerlengo in administrative authority during that time. Benedict XVI's views appear to be similar to those of his predecessor in maintaining the traditional Catholic doctrines on artificial birth control, abortion, and homosexuality while promoting Catholic social teaching. Benedict speaks German, Italian and French fluently, and is also proficient in English, Spanish and Latin. He can read ancient Greek and classical Hebrew. He is a member of a large number of academies, such as the French Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart and Beethoven.

Early life (1927–1951)

Background and childhood (1927–1943)

Beethoven Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born on Holy Saturday, at Schulstrasse 11, his parents' home in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria. His mother recovered from the birth soon enough to take him to be baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass later that evening. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a police officer, and his wife, Maria Ratzinger (nee Peintner), who worked as a barmaid, and whose family were from South Tyrol (today part of Italy). His father served in both the Bavarian State Police (Landespolizei) and the German national Regular Police (Ordnungspolizei) before retiring in 1937 to the town of Traunstein. The Sunday Times of London described the elder Ratzinger as "an anti-Nazi whose attempts to rein in Hitler's Sturmabteilung forced the family to move several times." . According to the International Herald Tribune, these relocations were directly related to Joseph Ratzinger, Sr.'s continued resistance to Nazism, which resulted in demotions and transfers. The pope's brother Georg said: "Our father was a bitter enemy of Nazism because he believed it was in conflict with our faith." . Georg Pope Benedict's brother, Georg, is still living. His sister, Maria Ratzinger, who never married, managed her brother Joseph's household until her death in 1991. Their grand uncle Georg Ratzinger was a priest and member of the Reichstag, as the German Parliament was called then. The pope's relatives agree that his ambitions to serve in the upper echelons of the Church were apparent since childhood. At age five, Ratzinger was in a group of children who presented the Archbishop of Munich with flowers; later that day he announced he wanted to be a cardinal. (See also Early life of Pope Benedict XVI.) According to his cousin Erika Kopp, Ratzinger had no desire from childhood to be anything other than a priest. When he was 15, she says, he announced that he was going to be a bishop, whereupon she playfully remarked, 'And why not Pope?'. When Ratzinger turned 14 he was forced by law to join the Hitler Youth (membership was legally required from December 1936.) According to the National Catholic Reporter correspondent and biographer John Allen, Ratzinger was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings. Ratzinger has mentioned that a Nazi mathematics professor arranged reduced tuition payments for him at seminary. This normally required documentation of attendance at Hitler Youth activities; however, according to Ratzinger, his sympathetic professor arranged things so that he did not have to attend to receive a scholarship.

Military service (1943–1945)

In 1943, when he was 16, Ratzinger was drafted with many of his classmates into the FlaK (anti-aircraft artillery corps). They guarded various facilities including a BMW aircraft engine plant north of Munich and later, the jet fighter base at Gilching, where Ratzinger served in telephone communications. After his class was released from the Corps in September 1944, Ratzinger was put to work setting up anti-tank defences in the Hungarian border area of Austria in preparation for the expected Red Army offensive. When his unit was released from service in November 1944, he went home for three weeks, and then was drafted into the German army at Munich to receive basic infantry training in the nearby town of Traunstein. His unit served at various posts around the city and was never sent to the front. Ratzinger was briefly interned in a Allied prisoner-of-war camp near Ulm and was repatriated on June 19, 1945. The family was reunited when his brother, Georg, returned after being repatriated from a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy.

Education (1946–1951)

1945 After he was repatriated in 1945, he and his brother entered Saint Michael Seminary in Traunstein, and then studied at the Ducal Georgianum (Herzogliches Georgianum) of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. According to an interview with Peter Seewald, he and his fellow students were particularly influenced by the works of Gertrud von le Fort, Ernst Wiechert, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Elisabeth Langgässer, Theodor Steinbüchel, Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers. The young Ratzinger saw the last three in particular as a break with the dominance of Neo-Kantianism, with the key work being Steinbüchel's Die Wende des Denkens ("The Change in Thinking"). By the end of his studies he was drawn more to the active Saint Augustine than to Thomas Aquinas, and among the scholastics he was more interested in Saint Bonaventure. On June 29, 1951, he and his brother were ordained by Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber of Munich. His dissertation (1953) was on Saint Augustine, entitled "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church," and his Habilitationsschrift (a dissertation which serves as qualification for a professorship) was on Saint Bonaventure. It was completed in 1957 and he became a professor of Freising College in 1958.

Early church career (1951–1981)

1958 Ratzinger became a professor at the University of Bonn in 1959; his inaugural lecture was on "The God of Faith and the God of Philosophy." In 1963 he moved to the University of Münster, where his inaugural lecture was given in a packed lecture hall, as he was already well known as a theologian. At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Ratzinger served as a peritus or theological consultant to Josef Cardinal Frings of Cologne, Germany, and has continued to defend the council, including Nostra Aetate, the document on respect of other religions and the declaration of the right to religious freedom. He was viewed during the time of the council as a reformer. (Later, as the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger most clearly spelled out the Catholic Church's position on other religions in the document Dominus Iesus (2000) which also talks about the proper way to engage in ecumenical dialogue.) ecumenical In 1966, he took a chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen, where he was a colleague of Hans Küng. In his 1968 book Introduction to Christianity, he wrote that the pope has a duty to hear differing voices within the Church before making a decision, and downplayed the centrality of the papacy. He also wrote that the church of the time was too centralized, rule-bound and overly controlled from Rome. These sentences, however, did not appear in later editions of the book. During this time, he distanced himself from the atmosphere of Tübingen and the Marxist leanings of the student movement of the 1960s, that in Germany quickly radicalised in the years 1967 and 1968, culminating in a series of disturbances and riots in April and May 1968. Ratzinger came increasingly to see these and associated developments (decreasing respect for authority among his students, the rise of the German gay rights movement) as related to a departure from traditional Catholic teachings. Increasingly, his views, despite his reformist bent, contrasted with those liberal ideas gaining currency in the theological academy. In 1969 he returned to Bavaria, to the University of Regensburg. Regensburg In 1972, he founded the theological journal Communio with Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, Walter Kasper and others. Communio, now published in seventeen editions (German, English, Spanish and many others), has become a prominent journal of Catholic thought. He remains one of the journal's most prolific contributors. In March 1977 Ratzinger was named archbishop of Munich and Freising. According to his autobiography, Milestones, he took as his episcopal motto Cooperatores Veritatis, co-workers of the Truth, from 3 John: 8. In the consistory of June 1977 he was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. By the time of the 2005 Conclave, he was one of only 14 remaining cardinals appointed by Paul VI, and one of only three of those under the age of 80, and one of only two who participated in the conclave, the other being Cardinal Baum.

Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1981–2005)

On November 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II named Ratzinger prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition. He resigned the Munich archdiocese in early 1982. Already a cardinal priest, he was raised to Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni in 1993. He became vice-dean of the College of Cardinals in 1998, and dean in 2002. In office, Ratzinger usually took traditional views on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and inter-religious dialogue. Among other things, he played a key role in silencing outspoken liberation theologians and clergy in Latin America in the 1980s. (See also Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.)

Health

In the early 1990s Ratzinger suffered a stroke which slightly impaired his eyesight temporarily. The existence of the stroke had been known during the conclave that elected him pope. In May 2005, the Vatican revealed that he had subsequently suffered another mild stroke - it did not reveal when, other than that it occurred between 2003 and 2005. France's Philippe Cardinal Barbarin further revealed that since the first stroke, Ratzinger has suffered from a heart condition. Because of his health problems, Ratzinger had hoped to retire, but had continued in his position in obedience to the wishes of Pope John Paul II.

Response to sex abuse scandal

As Cardinal Ratzinger was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the sexual abuse of minors by priests was his responsibility to investigate from 2001, when that charge was given to the CDF by Pope John Paul. On May 18, 2001, Ratzinger, as part of the implementation of the norms enacted and promulgated on April 30 2001 by Pope John Paul II, sent a Latin language letter to every bishop in the Catholic Church reminding them of the strict penalties facing those who revealed confidential details concerning enquiries into allegations against priests of certain grave ecclesiastical crimes, including sexual abuse, reserved to the jurisdiction of the CDF. The letter extended the prescription (statute of limitations) for these crimes to ten years. However, when the crime is sexual abuse of a minor, the "prescription begins to run from the day on that which the minor completes the eighteenth year of age." Lawyers acting for two alleged victims of abuse in Texas claim that by sending the letter the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice. However, the letter did not discourage victims from reporting the abuse itself to the police; the secrecy related to the internal investigation. "The letter said the new norms reflected the CDF's traditional “exclusive competence” regarding delicta graviora—Latin for “graver offenses.” According to canon law experts in Rome, reserving cases of clerical sexual abuse of minors to the CDF is something new. In past eras, some serious crimes by priests against sexual morality, including pedophilia, were handled by that congregation or its predecessor, the Holy Office, but this has not been true in recent years." The promulgation of the norms by Pope John Paul II and the subsequent letter by the then Prefect of the CDF were published in 2001 in Acta Apostolicae Sedis which, in accordance with the Code of Canon Law , is the Holy See's official journal, disseminated monthly to thousands of libraries and offices around the world. In 2002, Ratzinger accurately told the Catholic News Service that "less than one percent of priests are guilty of acts of this type." Opponents saw this as ignoring the crimes of those who committed the abuse; others saw it as merely pointing out that this should not taint other priests who live respectable lives. A report by the Catholic Church itself estimated that some 4,450 of the Roman Catholic clergy who served between 1950 and 2002 have faced credible accusations of abuse. His Good Friday reflections in 2005 were interpreted as strongly condemning and regretting the abuse scandals, which largely put to rest the speculation of indifference. Shortly after his election, he told Francis Cardinal George, the Archbishop of Chicago, that he would attend to the matter.

Dialogue with other faiths

Archbishop of Chicago In 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a document entitled Dominus Iesus which reaffirmed the historic doctrine and mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel. This was misunderstood by some who mistakenly believed that the Church had previously repudiated its unique role in the world. This document pointed out the danger to the Church of relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism by denying that God has revealed truth to humanity. (par. 4) Addressing the question that one religion is as a good as another (syncretism or indifferentism) it states: ...followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation. (par.22) The deliberate omission of the "filioque" clause ("and the Son") in the first paragraph is seen as an outreach to Orthodox Church which has been in conflict with the Roman Catholic Church over its addition to the Nicene Creed for about one thousand years. The World Jewish Congress "welcomed" his election to the pontificate, noted "his great sensitivity to the Jewish history and the Holocaust," and quoted the Pope in its press release: :Even if the most recent, loathsome experience of the Shoah (Holocaust) was perpetrated in the name of an anti-Christian ideology, which tried to strike the Christian faith at its Abrahamic roots in the people of Israel, it cannot be denied that a certain insufficient resistance to this atrocity on the part of Christians can be explained by an inherited anti-Judaism present in the hearts of not a few Christians. The Dalai Lama congratulated Pope Benedict XVI upon his election. In an interview in 2004 for Le Figaro magazine, Ratzinger said Turkey, a country Muslim by heritage and staunchly secularist by its state constitution, should seek its future in an association of Islamic nations rather than the EU, which has Christian roots. He said Turkey had always been "in permanent contrast to Europe" and that linking it to Europe would be a mistake. His defenders argue that it is to be expected that a leader within the Catholic Church would forcefully and explicitly argue in favor of the superiority of Catholicism over other religions. Others also maintain that single quotes from Dominus Iesus are not indicative of intolerance or an unwillingness to engage in dialogue with other faiths, and this is clear from a reading of the entire document. They point out that Ratzinger has been very active in promoting inter-faith dialogue. Specifically, they argue that Ratzinger has been instrumental at encouraging reconciliation with Lutherans. In defending Dominus Iesus, Ratzinger himself has stated that his belief is that inter-faith dialogue should take place on the basis of equal human dignity, but that equality of human dignity should not imply that each side is equally correct.

Ratzinger and Fatima

LutheranRatzinger has long been tied into the message of Our Lady of Fatima to three young Portuguese children. Notably, until her death, Lúcia dos Santos was under orders from the Vatican not to discuss the Fatima revelations publicly unless given leave by Cardinal Ratzinger, one of seven people known to have read the actual Third Message put into writing in 1944, and author of the Theological Commentary on the Third Message, one of four canon sourceworks kept alongside the Message. In 1984, an interview with Ratzinger was published in the Pauline Sisters newsletter and that it deals with "dangers threatening the faith and the life of the Christian and therefore of the world", while stating that it marks the beginning of the end-times. A year later the interview was re-published in The Ratzinger Report, though several statements were omitted — either for editorial reasons, or clandestine conspiratorial reasons, depending on the party asked. end-times In October 1987 he stated that "the things contained in [the] Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions; first of all, that of Fatima in what is already known of what its message contains, conversion and penitence are the essential conditions for salvation". In 1997, Ratzinger and Capovilla publicly stated that the Third Message was not being withheld for fears it would condemn the changes of the Vatican II council. On June 26 2000, following the release of the text of the prophecy, Ratzinger issued a joint statement with Cardinal Bertone that the third and final chapter of Mary's prophecy had been fulfilled in 1981 in a failed attempt on the Pope's life; critics point out however that a year after the attempted assassination, Lúcia told the Pope that the third prophecy had still not been fulfilled. He was quoted in the media as stating, "No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled. A careful reading of the text will probably prove disappointing."

Papacy

Mary

Election to the Papacy

Prediction

On January 2, 2005, Time magazine quoted unnamed Vatican sources as saying that Ratzinger was a frontrunner to succeed John Paul II should the pope die or become too ill to continue as pope. On the death of John Paul II, the Financial Times gave the odds of Ratzinger becoming pope as 7–1, the lead position, but close to his rivals on the liberal wing of the church. In April 2005, before his election as pope, he was identified as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Ratzinger himself had repeatedly stated he would like to retire to a Bavarian village and dedicate himself to writing books, but more recently, he told friends he was ready to "accept any charge God placed on him." Piers Paul Read wrote in The Spectator on March 5, 2005: :There can be little doubt that his courageous promotion of orthodox Catholic teaching has earned him the respect of his fellow cardinals throughout the world. He is patently holy, highly intelligent and sees clearly what is at stake. Indeed, for those who blame the decline of Catholic practice in the developed world precisely on the propensity of many European bishops to hide their heads in the sand, a pope who confronts it may be just what is required. Ratzinger is no longer young—he is 78 years old: but Angelo Roncalli, who revolutionized Catholicism by calling the Second Vatican Council was almost the same age (76) when he became pope as John XXIII. As Jeff Israely, the correspondent of Time, was told by a Vatican insider last month, "The Ratzinger solution is definitely on." However, Papal predictions in modern history had often been wrong, with the most popular candidates often losing the election in favor of a more unknown, obscure cardinal.

Election

John XXIII On April 19, 2005 Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II on the second day of the papal conclave after four ballots. Coincidentally, April 19 is the feast of St. Leo IX, a German pope who instituted major reforms in the Middle Ages during his pontificate. Cardinal Ratzinger had hoped to retire peacefully and said that "At a certain point, I prayed to God 'please don't do this to me'...Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me." Before his first appearance at the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica after becoming pope, he was announced by the Jorge Cardinal Medina Estévez, protodeacon of the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Medina Estévez first addressed the massive crowd as "dear(est) brothers and sisters" in Italian, Spanish, French, German and English — each language receiving cheers from the international crowd — before continuing with the traditional Habemus Papam announcement in Latin. Habemus Papam At the balcony, Benedict's first words to the crowd, before he gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing, were: :Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord. :The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. :In the joy of the Risen Lord, let us move forward, confident of his unfailing help. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you. (translation from original Italian). He then gave the blessing to the people. On April 24, he was inaugurated in St. Peters, formally becoming the 265th pope by the official Vatican reckoning. (Some sources, such as the Catholic Encyclopedia and a number of church historians, additionally count Pope Stephen II, who died before being consecrated.) Then on May 7 he was enthroned in a mass at Saint John Lateran Basilica.

Choice of name

The choice of the name Benedict (Latin "the blessed") is significant. Benedict XVI used his first General Audience in St. Peter's Square, on April 27, 2005, to explain to the world on why he chose the name: :"Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Norcia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions!" Some commentators see also an influence of the Prophecy of Saint Malachy, purportedly given in A.D. 1139, which contains a list of future popes. According to this argument, the prophecy "Gloria Olivae" (Glory of the olive tree) is connected to the symbols of Saint Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine order.

Early days of Papacy

Benedictine Pope Benedict has confounded the expectations of many in the early days of his papacy by his gentle public persona and his promise to listen. It is notable that he has used an open popemobile, saying that he wants to be closer to the people. Benedict's coat of arms have officially omitted the papal tiara, traditionally appearing in the background to designate the Pope's position and replaced it with a simple mitre. However, there have been papal documents since his inauguration that have been appearing with the papal tiara present. Since it is the shield and not the background which is unique to the individual Pope, various backgrounds are possible (though rarely used) for even a single shield. During his inaugural Mass, the previous custom of all the cardinals submitting was replaced by having 12 people, representing cardinals, clergy, religious, a married couple and their child, and newly confirmed people, submit to him. However, all the cardinals had already sworn their obedience upon his election. In a return to tradition, Benedict chose to resurrect the tradition of delegating the celebration of the beatification liturgies.

Teachings

As Pope, Benedict XVI's main role is to teach about the Catholic faith and the solutions to the problems of the faith, a role that he can play well being a former head of the Church's Congregation of the Faith. The emphases of his teachings are stated in more detail in Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.

Friendship with Jesus Christ

Theology of Pope Benedict XVI According to commentators, during the Inaugural Mass, the core of his message, the most moving and famous part, is found in the last paragraph of his homily where he referred to both Jesus Christ and John Paul II. After referring to John Paul II's well-known words (Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!), Benedict XVI says: :Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life. [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html] "Friendship with Jesus Christ" is a theme of his preaching which is found in many of his homilies and his addresses. For example, his address to the priests of Rome, his diocese as bishop, [http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/B16CLERO.HTM], to the cardinals in the pre-conclave, a key public address to the Church's top leaders [http://www.ewtn.com/pope/words/conclave_homily.asp], and to 150,000 people among whom were children going to their First Communion. [http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1506337/posts] He also said: "Truly we are all able, we are all called to open ourselves to this friendship with God... speaking to him as to a friend, knowing well that the Lord really is the true friend of everyone, even of those who cannot do great things on their own...that God is working today, and that all we have to do is put ourselves at his disposal...is an extremely important message. It is a message that helps to overcome what can be considered the great temptation of our time: the claim, that after the "big bang" God withdrew from history." [http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdfjosma.htm]

"Dictatorship of relativism"

Continuing what he said in the pre-conclave Mass about what he has often referred to as the "central problem of our faith today": [http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/RATZRELA.HTM] the world "moving towards a dictatorship of relativism", [http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/wyd082105.htm] on June 6, 2005 he also said: :"Today, a particularly insidious obstacle to the task of education is the massive presence in our society and culture of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. And under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one, for it separates people from one another, locking each person into his or her own ego" He also traced the failed revolutions and violent ideologies of the 20th century to a conversion of partial points of view into absolute guides: "Absolutizing what is not absolute but relative is called totalitarianism," he said during World Youth Day.

Christianity as the Religion according to Reason

relativism In the discussion with secularism and rationalism, one of Benedict's basic ideas can be found in his address on the "Crisis of Culture" in the West, a day before Pope John Paul II died, when he referred to Christianity as the Religion of the Word (in the original Greek, Logos, reason, meaning, intelligence). :"From the beginning, Christianity has understood itself as the religion of the Logos, as the religion according to reason...It has always defined men, all men without distinction, as creatures and images of God, proclaiming for them...the same dignity. In this connection, the Enlightenment is of Christian origin and it is no accident that it was born precisely and exclusively in the realm of the Christian faith....It was and is the merit of the Enlightenment to have again proposed these original values of Christianity and of having given back to reason its own voice... Today, this should be precisely [Christianity's] philosophical strength, in so far as the problem is whether the world comes from the irrational, and reason is not other than a 'sub-product,' on occasion even harmful of its development -- or whether the world comes from reason, and is, as a consequence, its criterion and goal...In the so necessary dialogue between secularists and Catholics, we Christians must be very careful to remain faithful to this fundamental line: to live a faith that comes from the Logos, from creative reason, and that, because of this, is also open to all that is truly rational." [http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=74864] In an address to a conference of the Diocese of Rome held at St. John Lateran basilica on June 6, 2005, Benedict remarked on the issues of same-sex marriage and abortion: :"The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom that wrongly passes for true freedom of man...from here it becomes all the more clear how contrary it is to human love, to the profound vocation of man and woman, to systematically close their union to the gift of life, and even worse to suppress or tamper with the life that is born," he said.

Curial appointments

abortion, and pallium of the Pope was added beneath the coat of arms.]] Upon becoming Pope, Benedict reappointed all former officers of the Roman Curia under John Paul II to new terms, their terms having ended with the death of John Paul II. This assured an easy transition into new government. The highest of these appointments are those considered to be Benedict XVI's prime ministers: Angelo Cardinal Sodano of Italy who serves as Cardinal Secretary of State and William Joseph Levada of the United States who serves as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Benedict XVI's only major new appointment was that of his successor as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Early speculation included the names of Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna in Austria and Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago in the United States. Both were renowned for their knowledge of Church doctrine and were considered among the more conservative members of the College of Cardinals. On May 13, 2005, Benedict XVI appointed a non-Cardinal, William Joseph Levada, Archbishop of San Francisco in the United States. Renowned for his knowledge of Church doctrine due to his office as principal editor of the current edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Levada is considered by some to be even more staunchly conservative than all the Pope's choices within the College of Cardinals. Levada relinquished his see in San Francisco on August 17, 2005 and is expected to be given the title of Cardinal in the next consistory of Cardinals. Due to the immense influence wielded by the office of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—arguably more immense than that of the Pope's Secretary of State—Benedict XVI's appointment of an American in effect raises the United States into greater prominence in the universal Church. That fact sparked many fears that the United States was being given too much power in the Church; people worldwide generally express uneasiness that the United States already dominates global politics. It is for that reason that Americans are never considered papabile.

Beatifications

papabile for the occasion.]] On May 13, 2005, Benedict XVI made his first promulgation of the beatification process. The honoree of the process was his predecessor, John Paul II. Normally five years pass before the beatification process begins for a person after his or her death but due to the popularity of John Paul II — devotees chanted "Santo subito!" meaning "Saint now!" during the late pontiff's funeral — Benedict XVI waived the custom and officially styled the late pope with the title given to all those being scrutinized in the beatification process, Servant of God. Upon the confirmation after scrutiny that the late pontiff's life is found morally clean and manifests heroic virtues, a decree of heroicity will be proclaimed and John Paul II will be declared Venerable on the road to beatification. Before changes in canon law in 1917, the title Venerable was given at the same time a person was declared Servant of God. Upon the confirmation of miracles attributed to the honoree, John Paul II would then be declared Blessed. It is not permitted to celebrate a person officially in Mass until he or she achieves the title of Blessed. The next day, on May 14, Benedict XVI made his first official beatification, raising Mother Marianne Cope — who served with Blessed Damien of Molokai helping those suffering from leprosy in what is now the Diocese of Honolulu in Hawaii — to the title of "Blessed Marianne of Molokai." She was the first addition to the calendar of saints by Benedict XVI, who announced an optional feast to be celebrated in her honor annually on January 23. Blessed Damien and Blessed Marianne are the patrons of HIV/AIDS and outcasts. Both are expected to become the first saints of the Hawaiian Islands. Mother Ascensión Nicol Goñi was also beatified on the same day. Unlike his predecessor, Benedict XVI delegated the beatification liturgical service to a principal aide, José Cardinal Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The reason for this is that the Pope wishes to preserve the distinction between beatifications and canonizations. On June 16, 2005, it was learned that the planned beatification of a French priest, Fr. Leon Dehon, had been suspended by the Vatican after complaints about anti-Semitism in his writings. The Vatican decided to further study the life and writings of the Fr. Dehon, who died in 1925 and who had founded the priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus religious order. The beatification was postponed originally due to the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, 2005. The move came after a French Catholic newspaper, La Croix, reported that some of his writings contained anti-Semitic passages. La Croix quoted his writings as saying Jews were "united in their hatred of Jesus" and were enemies of Christians, and that anti-Semitism was a "sign of hope." The possibility of declaring Fr. Dehon a saint has been under consideration by the church for decades. The process began formally in 1939. The church declared his virtues in 1983, and John Paul gave him the title "venerable" in 1997 after the Church accepted that an electrician in Brazil had been miraculously cured of an illness in 1954 after prayers were directed to him. However, France's government had put the Vatican on notice that it would not send a representative to the beatification, and the French bishops' conference urged the Vatican to act with caution, according to French newspaper reports. . 2005 For many in the Catholic community who had been concerned about the rapidity of the beatification process during the reign of Pope John Paul II, this incident seemed to indicate that the management of the practice of canonizing saints will be more measured and, possibly, less inclined to speed up the process. On June 19, 2005, Benedict XVI beatified Father Ladisłaus Findysz, a martyr of the Communist regime, Father Bronisław Markiewicz, the founder of the Congregation of St. Michael, and Father Ignacy Kłopotowski, the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Loreto. Benedict XVI had delegated Józef Cardinal Glemp of Warsaw to preside over the beatification liturgy, which took place at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw. The beatifications were originally scheduled for April 24 2005, but were delayed because of the death of Pope John Paul II. Pope John Paul II had also started the process of the beatifications of the above Poles, but Benedict XVI had to complete the process. On October 9, 2005, Benedict XVI beatified Clemens August Graf von Galen of Germany. Cardinal von Galen (nicknamed the "Lion of Munster") was an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime and an opponent of Soviet Communism. The Holy Father said that the German cardinal had "feared God more than man." Once again, Benedict XVI delegated Cardinal Saraiva Martins to preside over the beatification mass at St. Peter's Basilica. Saraiva Martins presided over the Mass of Beatifiction on October 29, 2005 in which Benedict XVI declared Fr. Jose Tapies Sirvant and his companions Francisco Castells Bruenuy, Jose Boher Fiox, Jose Juan Perot Juanmarti, Pascual Araguas Guardia, Pedro Martret Molet, and Silvestre Arnau Pascuet, martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, and Maria de los Angeles Ginard Marti, a member of the Congregation of Sisters Zealous of Eucaristic Devotion who likewise was a martyr of the Spanish Civil War, "blesseds" of the Church. On November 6, 2005, Eurosia Fabris was beatified in a ceremony presided over by Savaira Martins in the Cathedral of Vincenza in Italy. "Mamma Rosa", as she was affectionately called, raised 9 children, three of whom became priests and one a

Cologne

Cologne (German: [kœln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is with its one million residents Germany's fourth largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. Cologne lies on the River Rhine in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia about half way between Frankfurt and Amsterdam. It is the largest city in the Rhine-Ruhr Area, one of the Largest European metropolitan areas with almost 12 million inhabitants. Cologne is best known for the famous Cologne Cathedral, its specially brewed Kölsch beer, Cologne University, the original Eau de Cologne and major festivals and events such as the Cologne Carnival, various Cologne Trade Fairs and the Cologne Gay Pride (Christopher Street Day). Cologne is considered to be the economic and cultural capital of the Rhineland. Its location at the intersection of the river Rhine with one of the major trade routes between East and West was the basis of Cologne's growth. In the Middle Ages it also became an ecclesiastical centre of significance and an important centre of arts and education. Cologne is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese. The city is 43% Roman Catholic and 18% Protestant, while 39% of the population professes other religions or none. Until World War II and the ensuing process of urbanisation and influx of refugees from Eastern Germany, Roman Catholics comprised the vast majority of Cologne's residents, and the Catholic cultural influence is strongly present in the city today, particularly regarding the celebration of Carnival. Cologne's university has around 49,000 students (autumn semester 2004/2005) and is renowned for its economics department. In addition to the university, there are also three colleges. One of them, Fachhochschule Köln (University of Applied Sciences of Cologne), is Germany's biggest college, having 18,000 students. Cologne has 31 museums. Exhibits range from archeological findings to contemporary painting. Alongside the established places of art exists a thriving arts scene, represented yearly at "Art Cologne", Germany's biggest arts fair. Cologne plays a paramount role in Germany's television industry. It is home to Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) - the biggest branch of Germany's first public broadcaster ARD. Cologne is also home to the private broadcaster RTL, one of the biggest and commercially most successful television companies in Europe, as well as to a big number of smaller media, television and film production companies. 20% of Cologne's population is non-German. 40% of these (or 8% of the total population) are Turkish. Cologne has an active gay scene and has long been known for its easy-going, tolerant attitudes. The city is a stronghold of Germany's gay movement and the headquarters of Germany's largest gay and lesbian lobby group. Cologne hosts Germany's biggest Gay Pride event known as Christopher Street Day. Cologne is well known for its beer, called Kölsch. Kölsch is also the name of the local dialect. This has led to the common joke that Kölsch is the only language you can drink. A different kind of liquid that Cologne is famous for is Eau de Cologne. At the beginning of the 18th century, Italian expatriate Johann Maria Farina (1685-1766) created a new fragrance and named it after his hometown Cologne, Eau de Cologne (Water from Cologne). In the course of the 18th century the fragrance became increasingly popular. Eventually, Cologne merchant Wilhelm Mülhens secured the name Farina, which at that time had become a household name for Eau de Cologne, under contract and opened a small factory at Cologne's Glockengasse. In later years and under pressure of court battles his grandson Ferdinand Mülhens chose a new name for the firm and their product. It was the house number that was given to the factory at Glockengasse during French occupation of the Rhineland in the early 19th century, number 4711. In 1994, the Mülhens family sold their company to German Wella corporation. Today, original Eau de Cologne (German: Kölnisch Wasser) still is produced in Cologne by both the Farina family (Farina gegenüber since 1709), currently in the eighth generation, and by Procter & Gamble who took over Wella in 2003. In 2005 Cologne hosted one of the largest-ever meetings of Catholic youth. The 20th World Youth Day took place from Monday, August 15, until Sunday, August 21 and over a million people celebrated mass (vigil) at Marienfeld (Mary's Field) in presence of Pope Benedict XVI.

Geography

The city covers about 405.15 km² (about 156 miles²), on both sides of the river Rhine. It is between 37.5 and 118.04 m above sea level. The city of Bonn lies 30 km to the south, and Düsseldorf lies 40 km to its north.

The Coat of Arms of Cologne

The three crowns symbolise the Magi or Three Kings whose bones are said to be kept in a golden sarcophagus in the Cathedral (see Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral). In 1164, Cologne's archbishop Rainald of Dassel brought the relics to the city, making it a major pilgrimage destination. This led to the design of the current cathedral as the predecessor was considered too small to accomodate the pilgrims. The eleven flames are a reminder of the Britannic princess St. Ursula and her legendary 11,000 virgin companions who were supposedly martyred by Attila the Hun at Cologne for their Christian faith in 383 A.D. In reality, the entourage of St. Ursula and the number of victims was probably significantly smaller.

History

Main article: History of Cologne Cologne became a city in 50 A.D. In 310 Constantine built a bridge over the Rhine at Cologne. Cologne had a bishop as early as 313, and, in 785, became the seat of an archbishop. The Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled a large area as a secular lord in the Middle Ages, but in 1288 he was defeated by the Cologne citizens and forced to move to Bonn. Cologne was a member of the Hanseatic League, but became a free city officially only by 1475. Interestingly the archbishop nevertheless preserved the right of capital punishment. Thus the municipal council (though in strict political opposition towards the archbishop) depended upon him in all matters concerning criminal jurisdiction. This included the torture, which was only allowed to be executed by the episcopal judge, the socalled "Greve". This legal situation lasted until the French conquest of Cologne. As a free city Cologne was an estate within the Holy Roman Empire and as such had the right (and obligation) of maintaining an own military force. Wearing a red uniform these troops were known as the "Rote Funken" (red sparks). These soldiers were part of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire ("Reichskontingent") and fought in the wars of the 17th and 18th century including the wars against revolutionary France, where the small force almost completely perished in combat. The tradition of these troops is preserved as a military persiflage by the Cologne's most outstanding carnival soc