In memoriam: Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. A lifetime in the service of the pure doctrine

It came as no surprise when Germany’s Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to succeed Poland’s Pope John Paul II during the Conclave on April 19, 2005. Ratzinger had made a name for himself within the Vatican since 1981 as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (once the Inquisition), which watches over the purity of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.