Name : Pope Benedict XVI

Age: 84

Title: Pope

Head of: Roman Catholic Church

Residence: Vatican City

Career Achievements: He is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Benedict XVI was elected Pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected Pope since Pope Clement XII (1730–40). He had served longer as a cardinal than any Pope since Benedict XIII (1724–30). He is the ninth German Pope, the eighth having been the Dutch-German Pope Adrian VI (1522–23) from Utrecht. The last Pope named Benedict was Benedict XV, an Italian who reigned from 1914 to 1922, during World War I (1914–18).

Awards: 1977 Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Ecuador, 1977 Bavarian Order of Merit, 1985 Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star and Sash, 1985 Constitutional Medal of the Bavarian state parliament in Gold, 1989 Ordine della Minerva at the University of Chieti, 1989 Augustin Bea Prize (Rome), 1989 Karl-Valentin-Orden (Munich), 1991 Leopold Kunschak Prize (Vienna), 1991 Georg von Hertling Medal of CT, 1992 Grand Gold Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria, 1992 Literature Prize Capri S. Michele in Anacapri, 1992 Premio Internazionale di Cultura Cattolica, Bassano del Grappa, 1993 literary prize Premio Letterario Basilicata per la Letteratura e Poesia religiosa Spirituale in Potenza (Italy), 1996 Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and the Arts, 1998 Commander of the Legion of Honour (Legion d'Honneur) (France), 2002 Liberal Trieste and 2004 Literature Prize Capri S. Michele in Anacapri.