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| Joseph Ratzinger, left, with his father Josef, sister Maria, mother Maria and brother Georg. |
| 1938 |
| Pope Benedict XVI |
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| Ratzinger served as a German military anti-aircraft unit helper during World War II. |
| 1943 |
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| Ratzinger, right, and his brother were ordained in Freising, southern Germany. |
| 1951 |
| Ratzinger was a lecturer for dogmatic and fundamental theology in Freising, southern Germany. |
| 1955 |
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| Upon becoming the cardinal of Munich and Freising on July 1, 1977, Ratzinger greeted the faithful in Munich. |
| 1977 |
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| Ratzinger, center, joins other cardinals marching into the Sistine Chapel on October 14, 1978, for the start of the conclave that chose the late John Paul II as pope. |
| 1978 |
| Cardinal Ratzinger shakes hands with two women who waited among thousands of people on Munich's Marienplatz on February 28, 1982, to bid farewell to Ratzinger as he took leave from his Bavarian believers to head the Congregation of Faith in the Vatican. |
| 1982 |
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| Ratzinger, right, visits with Bishop Karl Lehmann during a Catholic meeting in the eastern German city of Dresden in July of 1987. |
| 1987 |
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| Ratzinger enters a Mass to celebrate the 2,000 year anniversary of the western German city of Speyer. |
| 1990 |
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| Pope Benedict XVI appears on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square shortly after being elected on April 19. |
| 2005 |
| White smoke arises from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on the second day of the conclave in Vatican City, signifying that a new pope had been elected as the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics. |
| 2005 |
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| Pope Benedict XVI appears on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica shortly after being elected April 19. |
| 2005 |
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