Residents of Marktl am Inn waved white-and-yellow flags, the colors of the Vatican, as bells rang out across the main square of the normally sleepy community of 2,600 souls. Others fired a noisy salute with blank rounds as a giant portrait of Ratzinger was unveiled on Martkl’s handsome main square.

It was at 11 Marktplatz in a two-gabled house on that square where the man now known as Pope Benedict XVI was born 78 years ago to parents named Joseph and Mary.

A plaque outside has reminded visitors of the significance of the spot since it was unveiled during Ratzinger’s last visit to Marktl, when he returned from Rome in 1997 to be made an honorary citizen.

The baptismal font over which Ratzinger was welcomed into the community of the Catholic Church on the day of his birth, Easter Saturday in 1927, is also proudly displayed in the local museum.

While Ratzinger’s family moved away from the town just two years after his birth, residents like to think that their small town — which today boasts one hotel and a handful of cafes — left its mark on the new pontiff.

"Ratzinger has all the typical Marktl traits: Calm, composure and sobriety," Mayor Hubert Gschwendtner told the Munich daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"This is a huge event for the village," Gschwendtner added as he fielded congratulatory phone calls and briefed reporters from countries around the world. "Not many people can say that their town is the birthplace of a pope."

The mayor said he hoped the new pontiff would pay an early visit to Marktl, which lies just north of the Austrian border in conservative and predominantly Roman Catholic eastern Bavaria along the birch-lined River Inn.

"He doesn’t have to come straight away, but if it’s not long after he takes office, I’ll be delighted," said Gschwendtner, who also teaches at the village school. "The place would go wild."