Peter Hebblethwaite's "in the vatican" which was written long before cardinal Ratzinger's ascendency to the papal See is an interesting read, and talks quite a lot about Ratzinger: he really drove the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the 1980s which is what the Inquisition became in modern times. He had to push back on both catholic revolutionary Marxist priests in Latin America and the latin liturgy fundamentalist breakout churches worldwide. And catholic philosophy radicals like Hans Küng. Küng was undermining papal infallibility and had an ecumenical mind. Scary stuff for the orthodox.

Ratzinger was immensely powerful in the vatican from long before his papacy. We might have had women priests, and different views on married priests, abortion and homosexuality if people like Ratzinger hadn't held a line.