11 February 2013Last updated at 12:04

In pictures: Pope Benedict XVI's life

The Pope is to resign at the end of this month in an entirely unexpected development.

Picture taken in the year 1951 shows the family of Josef Ratzinger (top right) in Freising, Bavaria

Pope Benedict XVI (back right) was born in rural Germany in 1927 as Joseph Ratzinger.

At the age of 14, he joined the Hitler Youth, as was required of young Germans of the time. He served in an anti-aircraft unit in Munich during World War II, and in 1945 was briefly held as a prisoner of war by the Allies.

From 1946 to 1951, he studied philosophy and theology at Munich University. And, in June 1951, together with his brother Georg, he was ordained a priest.

Theology Professor Joseph Ratzinger is shown at the University of Freising in his private quarters in 1959.

After completing a doctorate in theology, Father Ratzinger, as he was, became a university professor, teaching dogma and fundamental theology at a number of places, including Freising, Bonn and Munster.

Joseph Ratzinger, the new archbishop of Munich and Freising, 1977

Joseph Ratzinger became a prime candidate for rapid advancement, and it was no surprise when his ideological soul-mate Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Munich, and then cardinal, in 1977.

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger walks in Rome, Italy in 1981.

He left for Rome in 1981 to head the Vatican's Congregation of Faith, becoming the guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy.

Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, during the solemn inauguration of his ministry as universal Pastor of the Church

During the 1980s, he spearheaded the Church's campaign against "liberation theology", a potent blend of Catholicism and Marxism particularly popular in Latin America.

Incense is cast over the coffin of Pope John Paul II by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Following Pope John Paul II death in April 2005, it was Cardinal Ratzinger, as dean of the College of Cardinals, who presided over the funeral Mass, delivering the homily, based around Christ's words "follow me".

Newly elected Pope gestures to the crowd in St Peter's Square

A tough theologian and philosopher, the new Pope was expected to defend the Church's traditional values.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the holy mass on the Islinger Feld, in Regensburg, Germany, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breaking.

Pope Benedict XVI frees a dove upon his arrival at Istanbul's Holy Spirit Cathedral in Istanbul, 2006

Like his mentor, John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI believed there was a completely Christian alternative to the humanistic philosophies of the 20th Century, Marxism, materialism and liberalism.

Catholic pilgrims cheer at Pope Benedict XVI as he arrives in the popemobile at the National Basilica of Aparecida, 13 May 2007

There was occasional controversy. During the Pope's visit to Latin America in 2007, he suggested that native populations had been "silently longing" for the Christian faith brought to South America by colonisers. On his return to Rome, the Pope acknowledged that it was not possible to forget the suffering and the injustices inflicted by colonisers against the indigenous population.

Pope Benedict XVI holds a Prayer Vigil on the Eve of the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, in Hyde Park, London, 2010

His state visit to the UK in September 2010 was an opportunity for him to speak out against the critics of organised religion. A central theme of his papacy has been his defence of fundamental Christian values in the face of what he sees as moral decline across much of Europe.

Pope Benedict XVI, seen, during a gathering with youths in St. Peter's square, at the Vatican,

In a statement, Pope Benedict XVI said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry." It is only the fourth time in history that a pope has stepped down, the last occasion was in 1415.

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he delivers the Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) Christmas Day message from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Square

The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI's resignation means the papacy will be vacant until a successor is chosen.

In Pictures

In pictures: Pope Benedict XVI's life

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