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The conclave in Rome lasted only for one day, then white smoke unfurled from the chimney. On April 19th 2005, a new Pope was elected: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who named himself Benedict XVI. He was born in 1927 in Marktl am Inn, in Upper Bavaria, not far from Altötting. After being ordained to the priesthood in 1951 in Freising Cathedral, he embarked on a brilliant career in theological science; at the Second Vatican Council he was already one of the most important advisors. He was a professor of theology in Freising, Bonn, Münster, Tübingen and Regensburg before being appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977 as the successor of Cardinal Julius Döpfner. Three months later he was already a Cardinal. In 1981, in Rome, he took over one of the most important tasks in the Holy See. As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he was responsible for the preservation of the pure doctrine in the Catholic Church. After the death of John Paul II, as the Dean of the College of Cardinals he was the primus inter pares. In this portrait Claus Singer retraces the life of Pope Benedict XVI from Marktl to Rome.