Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was elected on April 19, 2005 as the 265th Pontifex Maximus in the history of the Catholic Church. He has chosen Benedict XVI as his pope name. The new Pope celebrated his Papal inauguration mass on April 24, 2005 and was enthroned in the St. John in Lateran Basilica on May 7, 2005. Josef Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927 in the village of Markl am Inn and was ordained a priest in June 1951. In March 1977 he was appointed by Pope Paul VI to be Archbishop of Munich and subsequently was made a cardinal. In 1981 he was appointed as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. For 20 years, Cardinal Ratzinger was an advisor of Pope John Paul II, and in 2002 he became the Dean of the College of Cardinals. Before becoming Pope, he was already one of the most influential men in the Vatican.