German Popes
Main category: German popesEight popes have been either German or from Germanic tribes. Pope Boniface II, an Ostrogoth, served as the first Germanic pope from 530 to 532. The next German pope was Gregory V (Pope 996-999). The 11th century saw five German popes, including Leo IX, who was canonised as a saint.
The last Pope Benedict XVI, former Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, is a German, from Bavaria. Recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her 9-page address at the Bavarian Catholic Academy's conference on "Political Action based on Christian Responsibility", noted that Benedict XVI's new encyclical Caritas in Veritate points to the way forward in the current economic crisis.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholicism In Germany
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