His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Pope EMERITUS.
born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger; on 16 April 1927 he served as pope of the Roman Catholic Church Vatican II from 2005 to 2013. He was elected pope on 19 April 2005. He was inaugurated on 24 April 2005 and resigned from the holy office on 28 February 2013. Pope Benedict's election occurred in a papal conclave following the death of Pope John Paul II.
He was ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger established himself as a highly regarded university theologian by the late 1950s and was appointed a full professor in 1958.
After a long career as an academic and professor of theology at several German universities, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977, an unusual promotion for someone with little pastoral experience. In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicastery's of the Roman Curia.
From 2002 until his election as Pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals, and as such, the primus inter pares among the Cardinals. Prior to becoming Pope, he was "a major figure on the Vatican stage for a quarter of a century"; he had an influence "second to none when it came to setting church priorities and directions" as one of John Paul II's closest confidants, he even beatified him in 2011 at St Peters Basilica, Rome. In 2012 our beloved Superior General, Archbishop James Atkinson-Wake was granted an audience after years of meetings with Vatican II curia to meet His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
In particular, Dominus Iesus, published by the congregation in the jubilee year 2000, re-affirmed many recently "unpopular" ideas, including the Roman Catholic Church's Vatican II position that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." The document angered many Protestant churches by claiming that they are not actually churches, but "ecclesial communities".
Dominus Iesus at Paragraph index 17 states: Therefore, there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him. The Churches which, while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the entire Church.
Dominus Iesus at Paragraph index 17 makes it clear to all Catholic Churches more so those who have preserved the Unbroken Apostolic Succession in that they are united to the Roman Catholic Church even if they do not accept the primacy of the pontiff by their Apostolic Succession of bishops consecrating bishops a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the entire Church.
This means that our Archbishop Primate and the college of bishops are united to the Roman Catholic Church Vatican II in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Vatican II as they are not in full communion but part communion.
