Pope Benedict XVI was a reluctant leader, anchoring his nearly eight-year pontificate in promoting a traditional faith. Among his most enduring legacies is his nontraditional exit.

Benedict XV led the Catholic Church during the First World War, a conflict he did everything in his power to stop.

Pope Leo XIV says he chose the name in honor of Leo XIII, connecting his predecessor’s focus on workers during the industrial revolution to today’s rise of AI.

Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges faithful during his weekly general audience in Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican on Feb. 4, 2009.

Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, died on December 31 at the age of 95, according to the Vatican. No cause of death was released. Ratzinger’s life was remarkable not just because he was ...

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the shy German theologian who tried to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe but will forever be remembered as the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the ...

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose death at 95 was announced Saturday, was a powerful intellectual force who shaped the Catholic Church’s theology for more than a quarter century before shocking ...

Like the other ceremonies and traditions that accompany the advent of a new pope, his newly chosen name will be imbued with centuries of Catholic history and dissected for its many layers of meaning.

The name “Benedict” also acknowledged Benedict XV, a much-overlooked pope who tried to broker a peace agreement to end the First World War. Controversies in the pontificate ...

Benedict told cardinals soon after he was elected that he hoped to be a pope of peace, like Pope Benedict XV, who reigned during World War I.

Andrew Medichini/AP Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges faithful during his weekly general audience in Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican on Feb. 4, 2009. Markus Schreiber/AP Pope Benedict XVI waves to ...