Joseph Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn in 1927. The son of a rural gendarme and a simple mother, he received a solid Christian education training , which was openly opposed to Hitler's regime. At school he stood out for his intellectual gifts and his fondness for classical languages, while at the same time acquiring a sensitivity for the liturgy. Benedict XVI thus maintains the simplicity of the Bavarian peasants.

Gradually, the young Joseph matured his priestly vocation and, with this in mind, he entered the seminar in Traunstein and later in Freising. At the University of Munich - still in Bavaria - he received a deeper training , especially in history, Philosophy, liturgy and biblical exegesis. In the end, he did research on Augustine and Bonaventure, with the same orientation as Romano Guardini.

After passing the qualifying examination in 1957, he began a long pilgrimage to various German universities: Bonn, Münster, Tübingen and Regensburg. In Bonn, he will enter contact with ecumenism , especially with Lutherans and Orthodox, and at the same time he will become acquainted with the theology of religions, especially Hinduism. He will also have a privileged position at attend as an expert witness at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Cardinal Frings, Archbishop of Cologne, decided to take him to Rome, where he met the most important theologians of the time: Lubac, Daniélou, Congar, Philips and especially Rahner, with whom he collaborated at first.

degree program After three years at the University of Münster, Ratzinger reached the peak of his academic career at Chair in Tübingen at the invitation of Hans Küng. However, the excessively polemic and politicized atmosphere of that university at the end of the sixties will lead him to a new change. Before that, he could leave us one of his best known works: Introduction to Christianity (1968).

He then begins a more intense partnership with Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar, which will culminate in the creation of the journal Communio. He then found himself as a theologian and developed a more mature theology. In 1977, however, he was appointed cardinal and archbishop of Munich and Freising. His pastoral responsibilities led the professor's theological vision to evolve. With the new pontiff, John Paul II, he established a spontaneous relationship of harmony, which led to his appointment in 1981 as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The new prefect undertook his work with enthusiasm and clarity of ideas: there was a succession of interventions, not always without controversy in the media. A milestone in all these years would be the 1985 Synod of Bishops, whose mature fruit would be the new Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992). Ratzinger did not fail to tackle the challenges he thought he had to face, such as ecumenism and liberation theology, the family and human life, prayer and the pastoral care of homosexuals, Christ and other religions.

On January 30, 1998, he received the doctorate honoris causa at the University of Navarra, where he wanted to spend a few days with professors and students. After the death of John Paul II, on April 19, 2005, he was elected by the cardinals as bishop of Rome and, therefore, supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, under the name Benedict XVI. His first encyclical will be on love(Deus caritas est, 2005), a necessary complement to truth. He will also publish two other encyclicals on hope(Spe salvi, 2007) and a social encyclical entitled Caritas in veritate (2009). Love, truth and hope thus constitute the triptych on which Benedict XVI taught.

He also presided over synods on the Eucharist, the Word of God and the new evangelization, and made some memorable international trips to England and the United States, Germany and Turkey, Brazil and Spain, Israel and some Arab countries. He had to face the crises of the sexual scandals involving the abuse of minors and the leaks of the Vatileaks case. He also undertook the reform of the Vatican's financial system. He resigned from his position on February 28, 2013, to devote himself to a life of study and prayer. Pablo Blanco Sarto/ University of Navarra