VATICAN CITY - Germany`s Joseph Ratzinger was elected the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday and will take the name Benedict XVI, the Vatican announced.
The name of the 78-year-old Ratzinger was announced to a crowd of around 100,000 pilgrims by Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez of Chile, the senior cardinal deacon, from the balcony of St Peter`s Basilica.