The pope's right-hand fraulein.

ROME -- For the past 14 years Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's housekeeper was a woman by the name of Ingrid Stampa, a member of the secular institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters and an accomplished professor of music. In fact, according to BBC News, the two occasionally play duets together--he on the piano and she on the viola de gamba, an ancient stringed instrument. She has been called Benedict's closest personal connection. And she doesn't just prepare meals; she is also said to have assisted Benedict with preparing his installation homily and was the German translator for many of John Paul II's books.

On the day Benedict was elected, Stampa was out in St. Peter's Square to hear the news, and when she heard his name announced, she broke down in tears, according to Agence France Presse. That night, before the new pope sat down to dinner with the cardinals who chose him, he came over to her, and she bent to kiss his ring. But he stopped her, saying, "God wanted it this way. Let us both follow the will of God."