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 Gregory XVI rescinded this privilege and reserved to the Pope the right of creation of such knights ( Acta Pont.

* Pope Gregory XVI ( 1765 – 1846, r. 1831 – 46 )

However, he was made a cardinal at the 24 March 2006 consistory anyway, as was announced by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2006.

The pope chooses the image on the outside: under Pope Benedict XVI it is a modern depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, with Mary and John to each side.

In his 2006 homily for Corpus Christi, Pope Benedict XVI noted the similarity between the Christian story of the resurrection and pagan myths of dead and resurrected gods: " In these myths, the soul of the human person, in a certain way, reached out toward that God made man, who, humiliated unto death on a cross, in this way opened the door of life to all of us.

In contrast, the Holy See has not questioned the validity of the consecrations that the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre performed in 1988 for the service of the relatively numerous followers of the Traditionalist Catholic Society of St. Pius X that he had founded, and of the bishops who, under pressure from the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, " have been ordained without the Pontifical mandate and who have not asked for, or have not yet obtained, the necessary legitimation ", and who consequently, Pope Benedict XVI has declared, " are to be considered illegitimate, but validly ordained ".

Pope Benedict XVI said of both Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier: " not only their history which was interwoven for many years from Paris and Rome, but a unique desire — a unique passion, it could be said — moved and sustained them through different human events: the passion to give to God-Trinity a glory always greater and to work for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who had been ignored.

Bertone and Mamberti were named in their respective roles by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI

This often takes the form of a small crowned, wide brimmed hat called a galero with the colors and tassels denoting rank ; or, in the case of Papal arms until the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, an elaborate triple crown known as a tiara.

" He argued that Pope Benedict XVI is making a habit of offending non-Catholics.

In 1965 Pope Paul VI decreed in his motu proprio Ad Purpuratorum Patrum that patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches who were named cardinals would also be part of the episcopal order, ranked after the six cardinal bishops of the suburbicarian sees ( who had been relieved of direct responsibilities for those sees by Pope John XXIII three years earlier ).

The Credo of the People of God is a profession of faith that Pope Paul VI published with the motu proprio Solemni hac liturgia of 30 June 1968.

* Ecclesia Dei is the motu proprio of 2 July 1988 that Pope John Paul II issued in response to the Ecône consecrations.

This form of the Mass remained essentially unchanged for 400 years until Pope Paul VI's revision of the Roman Missal in 1969 – 70, after which it has become widely known as the Tridentine Mass ; use of the last pre-1969 edition of the Missal, that by Pope John XXIII in 1962, is permitted without limitation for private celebration of the Mass and, since July 2007, is allowed also, under certain conditions, for public use, as laid down in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI.

In the Missal this Code of Rubrics replaced two of the documents in the 1920 edition ; and the Pope's motu proprio Rubricarum instructum took the place of the superseded the Apostolic constitution Divino afflatu of Pope Pius X.

In his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal was never juridically abrogated and that it may be freely used by any priest of the Latin Rite when celebrating Mass without the people.

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei is a commission of the Roman Catholic Church established by Pope John Paul II's motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who broke with him as a result of his consecration of four priests of his Society of St. Pius X as bishops on 30 June 1988, an act the Holy See deemed illicit and schismatic.

Set up by Pope John Paul II by a motu proprio of 15 January 1993, it is presided over by the Cardinal Secretary of State and includes also the Secretary and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, and the Secretaries of the Congregations for the Eastern Churches, for the Clergy, and for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

It was instituted by Pope John Paul II on 1 January 1989 by an apostolic letter in the form of a motu proprio.

* February 14 – Pope Paul VI issues a motu proprio deleting many names from the Roman calendar of saints ( including Valentine, who was celebrated on that day ).

The 14 February 1961 Instruction of the Congregation for Rites on the application to local calendars of Pope John XXIII's motu proprio Rubricarum instructum of 25 July 1960 decreed that " the feast of ' Saint Anacletus ', on whatever ground and in whatever grade it is celebrated, is transferred to 26 April, under its right name, ' Saint Cletus '.

Following the recommendations of the council ( in Lumen Gentium 29 ), in 1967 Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem, restoring the ancient practice of ordaining to the diaconate men who were not candidates for priestly ordination.

Of this rite, what is now the " ordinary " or, to use a word employed in the Letter of Pope Benedict XVI accompanying the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, the " normal " form is that which developed from the Second Vatican Council to the present day, while the form in force in 1962 is authorized as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite without restriction in private celebrations and under certain conditions in public celebrations.

But, since Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, use of the Tridentine rite has increased ; this, along with other Papal comments on the use of appropriate liturgical music, is promoting a new plainsong revival.

Thus, in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI referred to this form of the Roman-Rite Mass by linking it with " the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970 ".

In his letter to bishops which accompanied his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that " the Missal published by Paul VI and then republished in two subsequent editions by John Paul II, obviously is and continues to be the normal Form – the Forma ordinaria – of the Eucharistic Liturgy.

" Since then, the term " ordinary form " is often used to distinguish this form of the Roman Rite of Mass from the Tridentine Mass, the 1962 edition of which Pope Benedict declared in his motu proprio to be an authorized " extraordinary form ".

In accordance with Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Ministeria quaedam of 15 August 1972, " first tonsure is no longer conferred ".

Previous traditions that allowed some other bishops to use the pallium were ended by Pope Paul VI in a motu proprio in 1978.