With the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the Church has so far seen largely a continuation of the policies of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, with some notable exceptions: Benedict decentralized beatifications and reverted the decision of his predecessor regarding papal elections.[273] In 2007, he set a Church record by approving the beatification of 498 Spanish Martyrs. His first encyclical Deus caritas est discussed love and sex in continued opposition to several other views on sexuality.