Pope Benedict XVI: Servant of the Truth

[DesperatelySeeking]

http://www.amazon.com/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Servant-Truth/dp/1586171518/ref=sr_1_10/002-1887305-8988009?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184370134&sr=8-10

Just read this.  Hagiography lite.  But there is certainly room and need in the world for books that are not openly hostile to the Holy Father.

My question in this post relates to a fact mentioned in the book.  All the German Popes are listed.  There have been 7.  Strangely (to me), 5 of the 7 were Popes in a 12-year period, 1046-1058.

Can any papal historian out there shed some light for me on this "German Dynasty"?

[StephenF]

Can they really be considered "German"?  Until Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine, the notion of a united Germany was not possible.  In fact,  Benedictus considers himself more a Bavarian than a German.  This is clear in his charming, "Milestones".  It is only when Bismark was able to make the German princes subservient to the King of Prussia that Germany emerged.  I suggest it was an historical disaster.   It was World War One that kicked the soul out of Europe and she has never recovered.