- Honorary citizen of Regensburg (2006).
- Honorary citizen of Bressanone (2008).
- In 2020, he became the longest-lived pope in history, surpassing Pope Leo XIII. However, since Benedict abdicated several years earlier, Leo still holds the record for oldest reigning-Pope.
- Known for his fondness of cats. Cardinal Roger Mahony would state that, "The street talk that the pope loves cats is incorrect. The pope adores cats," when speaking of the then-pontiff.
- Was the first Pope to abdicate since Pope Gregory XII in 1415.
- Oddly, one of the other four other popes that abdicated also had the name Benedict (Benedict IX).
- Said his father equated Hitler with the Antichrist.
- Last words were "Jesus, ich liebe dich!" German for, Jesus I love you.
- Born on Holy Saturday, 1927, and baptized later that evening at an Easter Vigil mass.
- Succeeded Pope John Paul II as Pope on 19 April 2005, with the name of Benedict XVI.
- Pope Paul VI made him Archbishop of Munich in 1977, and on 25 November 1981, Pope John Paul II brought him to Rome as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - formerly known as the Holy Office and before that as the Holy Inquisition.
- Presided over the state funeral of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican on 8 April 2005.
- At 78, he was the oldest person to have been elected pope since Clement XII in 1730.
- Fluent in ten languages.
- Ordained into the priesthood on 29 June 1951.
- Over 600 works written by him have been published.
- Plays the piano and has a preference for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
- Third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a police officer and Maria Ratzinger, née Peintner. His sister Maria (1921-1991) managed his household until her death, his brother Georg (1924-2020) was also a priest.
- Is the very first Pope to have given full-length radio and television interviews.
- Of all the Popes that have reigned over several centuries, Pope Benedict is only the second to have been German-born, the first being Victor II (1055-1057).
- First Pope to celebrate Mass in Manhattan's famous St. Patrick's Cathedral and the first to visit an American synagogue.
- The Pope's visit to the U.S. (April 15-20, 2008) was his sixth such trip and his first as Pontiff. During his three-day stay in New York (April 18-20, 2008), the Pontiff resided at 20 East 72nd Street (between Fifth & Madison Avenues). He was a guest of the Vatican's representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.
- Has his look-alike puppet in the French show Les Guignols de l'info (1988).
- Has said he still has the stuffed animals his mother made for him when he was a child.
- Announced his retirement as Pope due to poor health, the first to do so in 600 years [11 February 2013].
- Passed away on the 85th birthday of actor Anthony Hopkins, whom had portrayed him in The Two Popes (2019).
- Surprisingly, despite being one of only five Popes in all recorded history to abdicate (and the first in nearly 600 years) and well lasting nearly a decade after abdication, he did --not last the longest time on record as a Pope Emeritus. Pope Benedict IX lasted over 10 years (past the tenth anniversary) as a pope emeritus from 1045 till 1055.
- It was sometimes incorrectly thought that he had moved back to his native Germany (after he abdicated and was succeeded). It is not the case, he lived his retirement in the hills of the Vatican (and did not make that many public appearances).
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