Thousands of young pilgrims walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge on their way to Pope Benedict XVI’s final World Youth Day Vigil and Mass at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse

Joseph Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria in 1927 into a deeply devout family. He and his brother, Georg, became priests in 1951 but Joseph was drawn towards scholarship, and became one of Germany’s youngest professors of dogmatic theology at the University of Regensburg. In the early 60’s he became involved in Pope John XXII’s Second Vatican Council, during which his c…