Benedict XVI (pope)

Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, was a leading theologian who had guarded Catholic doctrine for decades before his election. As pope he defended traditional teaching and the place of reason in faith, but his reign was shadowed by the clergy sexual abuse crisis. In 2013 he shocked the world by resigning, saying his strength was no longer enough for the office, the first pope to step down freely in about six hundred years. He then lived quietly as pope emeritus.