Joseph Ratzinger

Born in Marktl am Inn[?], in Bavaria, Germany, Ratzinger entered a preparatory seminary in 1939. In 1943 at the age of 16 he was, along with the rest of his class, drafted into the Flak or anti-aircraft corps. He went into basic training for the Wehrmacht infantry in November of 1944. In 1945 he was interned in a POW camp as a German soldier. By June he was released, and he and his brother (Georg) reentered seminary. On June 29, 1951, he and his brother were ordained by Cardinal Faulhaber[?] of Munich. His dissertation (1953) was on Saint Augustine, his Habilitationschrift (second dissertation) on Saint Bonaventure.

Ratzinger was a professor at the University of Bonn from 1959 until 1963, when he moved to the University of Muenster. In 1966 he took a chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen[?], where he was a colleague of Hans Küng[?]. In 1969 he returned to Bavaria, to the University of Regensburg[?].

At the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Ratinzger served as a peritus or chief theological expert, to Cardinal Joseph Frings of Cologne, Germany.

In 1972 he founded the theological journal Communio with Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac and others. Communio, now published in German, English, and Spanish editions, has become one of the most important journals of Catholic thought. In 1977 Ratzinger was named archbishop of Munich and Freising[?] and in 1978 was named a Cardinal by Pope Paul VI.

In 1981 Pope John Paul II named Ratzinger prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office or the Inquisition.

See also: Dominus Iesus

See also: http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com