Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who was elected to head the Roman Catholic Church headed previously the Vatican department.

He was born on April 16, 1927 in Bavaria, Germany, and was ordained on June 29, 1951.

A theologian from Germany, his job has earned him the nickname of "the Pope's enforcer" and he has been accused of trying to silence church dissidents.

Schooled in the Nazis' power of rhetoric during his childhood in Bavaria, Ratzinger later deserted the German Army during World War II, only to be sent to a POW camp when the Allies reached his hometown.

Later, as an eminent theologian lecturing at Germany's premier faculties, he was horrified by the Marxist ideologies that punctuated campus small talk in the late 1960s.

Once the archbishop of Munich, Germany, and for many years prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Ratzinger, 78, was one of the most powerful men in the Vatican and is widely acknowledged as a leading theologian.

Ratzinger served for 20 years as John Paul II's chief theological adviser.

The dean of the College of Cardinals since November 2002, he was elevated to cardinal by Pope Paul VI in June 1977.

Ratzinger pertains to the conservative wing of the Catholic Church and is expected to continue the policy of his predecessor John Paul II.

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