The least notable part of Benedict's c.v. is his time as Pope. He'll be remembered for his audacious move of stepping down (rather than waiting to die), and he's an important historical figure because of his significant role in pushing hardline church positions during John Paul II's papacy, when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger.
You can make a case he underestimated the degree to which making those positions palatable to the faithful depended on John Paul's beloved status; when he -- not a natural public figure, as The Two Popes dramatizes -- tried to keep moving doctrine in that direction, he encountered far more opposition. He also, of course, had to deal with the revelations of the clergy sex scandals, and the understandably furious reactions. It was probably one of the happier days of his life when he handed off to Francis.
R.I.P. Pope Benedict XVI
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