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Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope, 2005
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p36.jpgWhite smoke rises from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, indicating a new pope has been elected, in this image taken from April 1th 2005. The smoke shown in this picture was an indication of the election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. Photograph: Reuters TV
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Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope, 2005
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p9.jpgPope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, waves from a balcony after he was elected by the conclave of cardinals April 19th 2005 in Vatican City. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope, 2005
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p11.jpgPope Benedict XVI holds his inaugural mass at St. Peter's Square April 24th 2005 in Vatican City. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims attended the first mass led by the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
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Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope, 2005
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p25b.jpgThe new elected Pope Benedict XVI greets thousands of pilgrims from the balcony of the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in April 2005. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
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Pope John Paul II
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p8.jpgGerman Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger talks to the late Pope John Paul II during an extraordinary Cardinals meeting in Rome in this November 1979 file photo. Photograph:KNA Bild/Reuters
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Waves at the faithful, 2005
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p13.jpgPope Benedict XVI waves the faithful at the end of his weekly audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican, June 2005. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters
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Weekly audience, 2006
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p14.jpgPope Benedict XVI wears a red hat as he arrives to lead his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican September 2006. Max Rossi/Reuters
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Turkey visit, 2006
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p15.jpgPope Benedict XVI is guided by Istanbul's Grand Mufti Mustafa Cagrici (5th L) as he visits the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, November 2006. The Pope became only the second Roman Catholic Pontiff to ever enter a mosque. Photograph:Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/Reuters
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Visit to Poland, 2006
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p53.jpgPope Benedict XVI greets youth in front of a huge Jesus Christ portrait in Krakow in May 27th. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
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Easter Vigil Mass, 2007
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p17.jpgPope Benedict attends the celebration of the Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter's Basilica, Vatican city in April 2007. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
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Security breach, 2007
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p19.jpgA TV grab shows guards pining a man down during Pope Benedict's weekly audience in Vatican City June 2007. A man leaped over a barricade during Pope Benedict's weekly audience on Wednesday and tried to jump on to his moving, open-topped popemobile but was stopped by guards. The man took the Pope's bodyguards by surprise and managed to get to within about a metre of the Pope. Photograph: Vatican TV/Reuters
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Pope elevates Cardinal Brady, 2007
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p20.jpgCardinal Seán Brady being elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XV1 inside the Basilica in St Peters Square, Rome in November 2007. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill/The Irish Times
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Pope meets McAleese, 2007
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p32.jpgPope Benedict meets then Irish president Mary McAleese at his private library in Vatican City, March 2007. Photograph: Gianni Giansanti /Vatican Pool/Getty Images
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US visit, 2008
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p24.jpgPope Benedict XVI waves from his plane as he arrives in Washington for his pastoral visit to the United States in April 15, 2008. Photograph: Osservatore Romano/Pool/Reuters
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Australian visit, 2008
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p22.jpgPope Benedict XVI waves aboard a harbour cruise in Sydney, Australia, July 2008. Photograph: Osservatore Romano/Pool/Reuters
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Weekly audience, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p50.jpgPope Benedict XVI wears a Saturno hat at his general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican in June 2009. Photograph: Giampiero Sposito/Reuters
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UK visit, 2010
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p28.jpgQueen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI walk through the gardens at the Palace of Holyroodhouse during his four day state visit to the UK in September 2010. Photograph: John Linton/Getty Images
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Weekly audience, 2010
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p40.jpgPope Benedict XVI leaves at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, the Vatican on May 19th 2010. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
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Christmas message, 2010
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p27.jpgPope Benedict delivers his annual 'Urbi Et Orbis' blessing from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on December 25th, 2010 in Vatican City. Photograph: L'Osservatore Romano Vatican Pool/ Getty Images
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Weekly audience, 2011
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p38.jpgPope Benedict XVI leaves at the end of his weekly audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican on November 16th 2011. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/
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Pope's 85th birthday, 2012
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p39.jpgPope Benedict XVI leaves at the end of a concert by The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, on the occasion of Pontiff's 85th birthday celebrations, in Paul VI hall at the Vatican in this April 20th 2012 photo. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters
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Pontifex tweets
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p30.jpgPope Benedict XVI's Pontifex Twitter account is pictured on a smart phone in front of the Twitter logo displayed on a laptop in this photo illustration taken in Rome in December 2012. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters
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In recent days
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p4.jpgPope Benedict XVI waves during a mass conducted by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, for the 900th anniversary of the Order of the Knights of Malta at the St. Peter Basilica in Vatican on Saturday last. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
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In recent days
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p3.jpgPope Benedict XVI leaves at the end of a meeting with seminarians at the Romano Maggiore seminary in Rome on February 8th 2013. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters
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In recent days
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p1.jpgPope Benedict XVI holds a candle as he arrive to leads a mass in the Vatican on February 2nd 2013. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuter
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In recent days
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p5.jpgPope Benedict XVI waves as he leads the angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday last. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters
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Pope resigns, 2013
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p37.jpgPope Benedict XVI attends a consistory at the Vatican on February 11th 2013, in this. Pope Benedict said he will resign on February 28th because he no longer has the strength to fulfil the duties of his office, becoming the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to take such a step. Photograph: Osservatore Romano/Reuters
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Pope resigns. 2013
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/P51.jpgPope Benedict XVI attends a consistory at the Vatican February 11th, 2013. Photograph: Osservatore Romano/Reuters
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Pope resigns, 2013
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2013/02/p35.jpgThe official bulletin announcing the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican media headquarters in the Vatican February 11th 2013. Pope Benedict has no specific illness and his decision to resign was taken with no outside pressure, the Vatican spokesman said after the pontiff's shock announcement that he would step down at the end of this month. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
