On Friday, April 20, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI, abolished the whole idea saying he " showed doubt about the concept of limbo ".

* 1927 – Pope Benedict XVI

As Pope Martin V supported Sforza, Alfonso switched religious allegiance to the Aragonese antipope Benedict XIII.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI gave a homily about him in Saint Peter's square.

The new Pope takes on the regnal name Benedict XVI.

He was one of the seven cardinals who, in May 1408, deserted Pope Gregory XII, and, with those following Antipope Benedict XIII from Avignon, convened the Council of Pisa, of which Cossa became the leader.

John XXIII was acknowledged as pope by France, England, Bohemia, Prussia, Portugal, parts of the Holy Roman Empire, and numerous Northern Italian city states, including Florence and Venice ; however, the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII was regarded as pope by the Kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, and Scotland and Gregory XII was still favored by Ladislaus of Naples, Carlo I Malatesta, the princes of Bavaria, Louis III, Elector Palatine, and parts of Germany and Poland.

They are first mentioned in the papal bulls Extravagantes of Pope John XXII and of Pope Benedict XII.

* 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

* 1342 – Pope Benedict XII ( b. 1285 )

Pope Benedict XVI in a modified Mercedes-Benz M-Class Popemobile in São Paulo, Brazil

Apart from a short poem attributed to Mark of Monte Cassino, the only ancient account of Benedict is found in the second volume of Pope Gregory I's four-book Dialogues, thought to have been written in 593.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave up the title of Patriarch of the West.

The arrangement of the Psalms in the Rule of St. Benedict had a profound impact upon the breviaries used by secular and monastic clergy alike, up until 1911 when Pope St. Pius X introduced his reform of the Roman Breviary.

Under Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, Roman Catholic bishops, priests, and deacons are again permitted to use the 1962 edition of the Roman Breviary, promulgated by Pope John XXIII to satisfy their obligation to recite the Divine Office every day.

Pope Benedict VIII during his visit to Bamberg ( 1020 ) placed the diocese in direct dependence on the Holy See.

" In March 2012, the now-retired Fidel Castro met Pope Benedict XVI during the latter's visit to Cuba ; the two men discussed the role of the Catholic Church in Cuba, which has a large Catholic community.

This view was reinforced by Pope Benedict XIV, who ordered a ban on Chinese rituals.

The pope, as Bishop of Rome, may open a process and has the authority to waive the five year waiting period, as was done for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II, and for Lúcia Santos and for John Paul II himself by Pope Benedict XVI.

XVI " for Pope Benedict XVI.

With the revision of the Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV, only those who are already priests or bishops may be appointed cardinals.

Pope: " Thus on a roe the well-breath'd beagle flies, And rends his hide fresh-bleeding with the dart " The Iliad of Homer ( 1715 – 20 ) Book XV: 697 – 8

He received some votes in the 1605 conclaves which elected Pope Leo XI, Pope Paul V, and in 1621 when Pope Gregory XV was elected, but only in the second conclave of 1605 was he papabile.

The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, by Pope John XV in 999 is the first undoubted example of a papal canonization of a saint from outside Rome ( Some historians maintain that the first such canonization was that of Saint Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804 ).

:" Also in another volume from the times of Pope John XV, Dagome, lord, and Ote, lady, and their sons Misico and Lambert ( I do not know of which nation those people are, but I think they are Sardinians, for those are ruled by four judges ) were supposed to give to Saint Peter one state in whole which is called Schinesghe, with all its lands in borders which run along the long sea, along Prussia to the place called Rus, thence to Kraków and from said Kraków to the River Oder, straight to a place called Alemure, and from said Alemure to the land of Milczanie, and from the borders of that people to the Oder and from that, going along the River Oder, ending at the earlier mentioned city of Schinesghe.

On 5 October 1920, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed Ephrem a Doctor of the Church.

* 1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.

At an early age, he came to the attention of the papal nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and in 1621, at the age of only twenty three, he was knighted by Pope Gregory XV.

* 1920 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.

In 1921, Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

However, there was no Pope John XX, owing to confusion caused by medieval historians misreading the Liber Pontificalis to refer to another Pope John between John XIV and John XV.

Pacelli became the under-secretary in 1911, adjunct-secretary in 1912 ( a position he received under Pope Pius X and retained under Pope Benedict XV ), and secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in February 1914.

During the war, the Pope followed a policy of public neutrality mirroring that of Pope Benedict XV during World War I.

The existence of a second Pope John XIV was widely accepted in the 13th century, hence the numbering of Popes John XV through XIX was regarded as being erroneous.

In particular, Pope Benedict XVI stated after his election that he was inspired by Pope Benedict XV, who led the Church through the chaos of World War I, and Saint Benedict of Nursia.

* Pope John XV

* 1329 – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Quilon, the first Indian Christian Diocese, is erected by Pope John XXII ; the French-born Jordanus is appointed the first Bishop.

At the Council of Clermont in 1095, Adhemar showed great zeal for the crusade ( there is evidence Urban II had conferred with Adhemar before the council ) and having been named apostolic legate and appointed to lead the crusade by Pope Urban II, he accompanied Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, to the east.

Since the time of Pope John XXIII a priest who is appointed a cardinal must be consecrated a bishop, unless he obtains a dispensation.

The council appointed, in 1562 ( eighteenth session ), a commission to prepare a list of forbidden books ( Index Librorum Prohibitorum ), but it later left the matter to the Pope.

" Pope Pius appointed a commission of cardinals to assist him in interpreting and enforcing the decrees.

In 1209, Christian was commissioned by the Pope to be responsible for the Prussian missions between the Vistula and Neman Rivers and in 1212 he was appointed bishop.

Pope Martin V appointed Polish King Jogaila and Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas as vicar generals in Pskov and Veliky Novgorod in recognition of their Catholicism.

The order was appointed by Pope Gregory IX the duty to carry out the Inquisition.

The influence of the grateful new queen being actively exerted on Alberoni's behalf — the princesse des Ursins having been chased out — within not much more than a year Alberoni was made a duke and grandee of Spain, a member of the king's council, appointed bishop of Málaga, and in 1715 prime minister, and was made cardinal by Pope Clement XI, under pressure from the court of Spain, in July 1717.

He was appointed grand penitentiary shortly after election of Pope Innocent VI in December 1352 and given the epithet " Angel of Peace ", a title which quickly became a sad misnomer as his future actions in the Papal States would drench the Italian countryside in blood from the River Po until the Garigliano.

In August 1524 Pope Clement VII appointed Aleandro the Archbishop of Brindisi, for which office he was ordained to the priesthood two months later.

His first published compositions, a book of Masses, had made so favorable an impression with Pope Julius III ( previously the Bishop of Palestrina ) that he appointed Palestrina musical director of the Julian Chapel.

The Pope, head of state of Vatican City, is chosen by previously appointed cardinals under 80 years of age from among themselves in a papal conclave.

* 1964 – Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, is appointed archbishop of Kraków, Poland.

In 1576, Macau was established as an episcopal see by Pope Gregory XIII with Melchior Carneiro appointed as the first bishop.

In 1750, on the illness of her father, she was appointed by Pope Benedict XIV to the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy and physics at Bologna.

Pope Innocent XII appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the accusations-apparently violating the exemption granted in 1520.

In 1925 Pope Pius XI appointed him as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria ( 1925 – 1935 ), also naming him for consecration as titular bishop of Areopolis, Greece.

In 1953, he was appointed Patriarch of Venice and, accordingly, raised to the rank of Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca by Pope Pius XII.

Pacelli was made a Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo on 16 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI, and within a few months, on 7 February 1930, Pius XI appointed him Cardinal Secretary of State, responsible for foreign policy and state relations throughout the world.

After World War II, Pius XII appointed more non-Italians than any Pope before him.

Pope Damasus appointed St Jerome as his confidential secretary.