Pope Benedict XVI

 Pope Benedict XVI

 For twenty-seven years, from 1978 until his death in 2005, John Paul II (1920–2005) served as pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the Christian church consisting of bishops and priests with the pope as its head. (Christianity is a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, a prophet who lived between approximately 6 BCE and 30 BCE . In 2005 there were approximately 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide.) The pope also serves as the head of Vatican City, the smallest independent nation in the world, located in the heart of Rome, Italy. During Pope John Paul's tenure his closest confidant and adviser was Joseph Ratzinger, a German cardinal (senior church official) who helped the pope create many of the Church's public documents and stances on important issues. When Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, Ratzinger was considered a front-runner to replace him, and on April 19 he was elected almost unanimously by the 115 cardinals who were part of the voting process.

For years, because of his conservative views on such controversial topics as abortion (the deliberate ending of a pregnancy), Ratzinger was called "the Enforcer" by the press and members of the Church. Many feared that his call for a return to traditional values would divide believers in the Catholic faith. According to Andrew Sullivan of Time magazine, however, Ratzinger's supporters "viewed him as the Vatican's intellectual powerhouse, a man who rescued a drifting church from the sirens of modern life."