In his first decade at the helm of the doctrinal congregation, Pope Benedict zeroed in on liberation theology as the most urgent challenge to the faith. He silenced Latin American theologians like Franciscan Father Leonardo Boff and guided the preparation of two Vatican documents that condemned the use of Marxist political concepts in Catholic theology.
But after the collapse of Marxism as a global ideology, Pope Benedict identified a new, central threat to the faith: relativism. He said relativism is an especially difficult problem for the church because its main ideas -- compromise and a rejection of absolute positions -- are so deeply embedded in democratic society.
More and more, he has warned, anything religious is considered "subjective." As a result, he said, in places like his native Germany the issue of abortion is being confronted with "political correctness" instead of moral judgment.
He said modern theologians are among those who have mistakenly applied relativistic concepts to religion and ethics. He said Jesus is widely seen today as "one religious leader among others," concepts like dogma are viewed as too inflexible and the church is accused of intransigence.
Pope Benedict has been particularly sensitive to wayward trends in Asian theology, especially as they find popular expression. He banned the best-selling books of a late Jesuit theologian from India and declared a Sri Lankan theologian excommunicated for his writings on Mary and the faith. The Sri Lankan theologian later reconciled with the church.
After review by Pope Benedict's congregation, U.S. Father Charles Curran, who questioned church teaching against artificial birth control, was removed from his teaching position at
The Catholic University of America in Washington in 1987. Earlier this year, Pope Benedict made a similar judgment about Jesuit Father Roger Haight, who was banned from teaching Catholic theology over his book touching on the divinity and salvific mediation of Jesus.
The pope also has focused on ordinary Catholics, saying there can be no compromise on dissent by the lay faithful. He helped prepare a papal instruction on the subject in 1998 and accompanied it with his own commentary warning Catholics they would put themselves outside the communion of the church if they reject its teachings on eight specific issues.
The same year, he issued a document on papal primacy -- a topic of intense ecumenical discussion -- saying that, as a matter of faith, only the pope has the authority to make changes in his universal ministry.
Pope Benedict's theological ideas are based on years of study, pastoral ministry and Vatican experience. Born in Marktl am Inn April 16, 1927, the son of a rural policeman, the pope moved with his family several times during his younger years. His priestly studies began early but were interrupted by World War II.
In a book of memoirs, Pope Benedict recalled that while a seminarian he was enrolled by school officials in the Hitler Youth program; he soon stopped going to meetings. After being drafted in 1943 he served for a year on an anti-aircraft unit that tracked Allied bombardments. At the end of the war he spent time in a U.S. prisoner-of-war camp before being released.
Ordained in 1951, he received a doctorate and a licentiate in theology from the University of Munich, where he studied until 1957. He taught dogma and fundamental theology at the University of Freising in 1958-59, then lectured at the University of Bonn, 1959-1969, at Munster, 1963-66, and at Tubingen from 1966 to 1969. In 1969 he was appointed professor of dogma and of the history of dogmas at the University of Regensburg, where he also served as vice president until 1977.
A theological consultant to West German Cardinal Joseph Frings, he came to the Second Vatican Council as an expert or "peritus." At the council, he was said to have played an influential role in discussions among the German-speaking participants and gained a reputation as a progressive theologian.
After the council, he published several major books, including "Introduction to Christianity," "Dogma and Revelation" and "Eschatology." He was named a member of the International Theological Commission in 1969.
Pope Paul VI appointed him archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977 and named him a cardinal later that year.
Before his election, Pope Benedict lived in an apartment just outside the Vatican's St. Anne's Gate. He walked to work daily across St. Peter's Square, rarely attracting people's notice.
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