If you’re trying to remember who was the pope in 2007, the answer is Pope Benedict XVI. He was the German intellectual formerly known as Joseph Ratzinger, and by 2007, he was well into the third year of his papacy.
He had a tough act to follow.
John Paul II had been a global superstar, a man who literally helped topple communism. Benedict? He was different. He was a scholar. A "Mozart of Theology," as some called him. In 2007, he wasn't just sitting in the Apostolic Palace reading old Latin manuscripts; he was actually making some of the most controversial and tech-forward moves of his entire career.
It was a strange, transitional year for the Catholic Church.
Why 2007 was a turning point for Pope Benedict XVI
Honestly, 2007 was the year Benedict really stepped out of the shadow of his predecessor. People forget that he was already 78 when he was elected in 2005. Most people thought he’d just be a "caretaker" pope. Someone to keep the seat warm. They were wrong.
In July 2007, Benedict released one of the most talked-about documents of his reign: Summorum Pontificum.
This was a big deal.
Basically, it made it much easier for priests to celebrate the "Traditional Latin Mass." For decades, the old-school Latin service had been pushed to the fringes. Benedict brought it back. He didn't do it because he was stuck in the past; he did it because he believed the Church needed a stronger sense of continuity. He hated the idea that the Church’s history could be chopped into "before" and "after" segments.
But it wasn't all ancient languages and incense.
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Benedict XVI was also the first "Green Pope." In 2007, the Vatican started installing solar panels on the roof of the Paul VI Audience Hall. It was a massive statement. He started talking about climate change and environmental stewardship in a way that surprised a lot of people who thought he was only interested in dogma.
The Regensburg fallout and the 2007 recovery
You might remember a massive blowup in late 2006 regarding a speech Benedict gave in Regensburg, Germany. He quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor talking about Islam, and the world absolutely erupted.
2007 was the year of the cleanup.
He spent a huge chunk of that year trying to bridge the gap he’d accidentally widened. In October 2007, a group of 138 Muslim scholars sent him an open letter titled "A Common Word Between Us and You." It was an unprecedented move. It led to the establishment of the Catholic-Muslim Forum. Benedict proved he could be a diplomat, even if his natural habitat was a library.
Life in the Vatican: What was the Pope doing day-to-day?
If you had walked into the Vatican in 2007, you would have found a man who lived a very disciplined, almost monastic life.
He woke up early. Mass at 7:00 AM. Breakfast. Then, he’d hit the desk. Benedict was a writer at heart. In April 2007, he released the first volume of his book, Jesus of Nazareth.
Think about that for a second.
The leader of a billion people was spending his "free time" writing a scholarly biography of Christ. It became a global bestseller. He wasn't just a figurehead; he was a working academic who happened to wear a white cassock.
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He also loved his piano.
Benedict was a huge fan of Mozart and Brahms. Neighbors and staff often talked about hearing piano music drifting through the halls of the Apostolic Palace in the evenings. It was his way of decompressing from the weight of the world.
The "Prada" shoe myth
We have to talk about the shoes.
In 2007, the media was obsessed with the Pope’s bright red outdoor shoes. Rumors swirled that they were made by Prada. It was a classic "viral" moment before social media was even fully a thing.
The truth? They weren't Prada.
They were made by a local shoemaker named Adriano Stefanelli. The red color is a traditional papal symbol for the blood of the martyrs. Benedict wasn't trying to be a fashion icon; he was just following a tradition that went back centuries, though he definitely wore them with a certain... flair.
Major events on the 2007 Papal calendar
- The Trip to Brazil: In May, Benedict traveled to Aparecida for the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is where he really engaged with the "Global South." Interestingly, a certain Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio—the future Pope Francis—was a key player at this conference.
- Spe Salvi: In November, he released his second encyclical, Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope). It was a deep, philosophical look at why modern people feel so hopeless despite all our technology.
- The Saintly Canonizations: He wasn't stingy with the halos. In 2007, he canonized several figures, including George Preca, the first Maltese saint.
The theological weight of Benedict’s 2007
Benedict was obsessed with the "Dictatorship of Relativism."
He used that phrase a lot. To him, the biggest threat to the world in 2007 wasn't just political or economic; it was the idea that "truth" doesn't exist. He felt that if everyone just makes up their own version of right and wrong, society eventually collapses.
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He was a "Eurocentric" Pope in many ways. He deeply believed that Europe’s Christian roots were the only thing keeping the continent from losing its soul.
But he was also deeply aware of the growing scandals within the Church. While the full scale of the clerical abuse crisis hadn't yet reached the deafening roar it would in 2010, Benedict was already beginning to tighten the rules behind the scenes. He was the one who, as a Cardinal, had pushed for more centralized control over these cases. In 2007, he continued that quiet, internal "housecleaning" that many critics argue was too slow, but supporters say was the first real attempt at reform.
How to research Benedict XVI’s legacy today
If you want to understand the man who was pope in 2007, you can't just look at news snippets. You have to look at the documents.
- Read Summorum Pontificum: It explains his heart for liturgy.
- Check the Vatican YouTube Channel: Funny enough, the Vatican actually launched its YouTube presence shortly after this era (2009), but the archives of 2007 are all there.
- The Memoirs of Peter Seewald: Seewald did extensive interviews with Benedict. They are arguably the best insight into his mindset during those years.
Benedict XVI eventually did something no pope had done in 600 years: he resigned in 2013. But in 2007, that was unthinkable. He was a man at the height of his intellectual powers, trying to steer an ancient institution into a digital, fragmented 21st century.
He wasn't the "rockstar" John Paul II was, and he wasn't the "man of the people" Francis would become. He was the professor. The librarian. The quiet man who believed that words, if chosen carefully enough, could change the world.
Whether you agreed with his conservative stance or not, there's no denying that his work in 2007 set the stage for everything the Catholic Church is dealing with today, from environmentalism to the "liturgy wars" that still dominate Catholic Twitter.
Next steps for deeper insight:
- Visit the official Vatican Archive to read the full text of Spe Salvi; it offers a surprisingly modern critique of the "unhappiness" of the digital age.
- Compare the Aparecida Document (2007) with the later writings of Pope Francis to see how Benedict's theology influenced the current papacy more than most people realize.
- Look up the 2007 solar panel project to see how the Vatican became one of the first "carbon-neutral" states, a project Benedict pioneered long before it was a common corporate trend.