This bronze medal featuring Pope Benedict XVI in profile. Pope Benedict XVI was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from April 19, 2005 until his resignation on February 28, 2013 at the age of 85. He was the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in Bavaria, Germany in 1927, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977.