Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, born in Marktl, Germany, on 16 April 1927, turns 91 today. He was elected to the Chair of Peter on 19 April 2005. His resignation was first announced on 11 February 2013, and he has been Pope Emeritus since 28 February 2013. On 17 April last year, Vatican News recalled, a Bavarian party was held outside his residence, the “Mater Ecclesiae” Monastery in the Vatican, to mark his 90^th birthday. A birthday celebrated with beer, traditional Bavarian pretzel and music performed by a group of Gebirgsschützen dressed in their traditional costumes. At the end of the party, before imparting his apostolic blessing to those present, Benedict XVI thanked everyone for having brought him back to his “beautiful country”. Five years earlier, during the Mass he celebrated in the Pauline Chapel on 16 April 2012, Pope Benedict said he was “facing the last chapter” of his life. “I do not know what awaits me”, he said at the time. “I know, however, that the light of God exists, that He is Risen, that his light is stronger than any darkness, that the goodness of God is stronger than any evil in this world. And this helps me to go forward with certainty. May this help us to go forward, and at this moment, I wholeheartedly thank all those who have continually helped me to perceive the ‘yes’ of God through their faith”.