Joseph Ratzinger is the new pope

VATICAN CITY: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the Roman Catholic Church’s leading hard-liner, was elected the  new Pope yesterday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium by cardinals intent on sticking to conservative policy. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI and called himself “a simple, humble worker.” Ratzinger emerged onto the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, where he waved to a wildly cheering crowd of tens of thousands and gave his first blessing as Pope. Other cardinals clad in their crimson robes came out on other balconies to watch him after one of the fastest papal conclaves of the past century.

Pilgrims chanted “Benedict! Benedict!” as the church’s 265th Pontiff appeared. “Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me — a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” he said after being introduced by Chilean Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estivez. “The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers,” the new Pope said. Ratzinger, the first German Pope in centuries, served John Paul since 1981 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he has disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms. He turned 78 on Saturday.

His age clearly was a factor among cardinals who favoured a “transitional” pope who could skillfully lead the church as it absorbs John Paul II’s legacy, rather than a younger cardinal who could wind up with another long pontificate. Cardinals had also faced a choice over whether to seek a younger dynamic pastor and communicator — perhaps from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world where the church is growing. Ratzinger is the first Germanic pope in roughly 1,000 years. There were at least three German popes in the 11th century. The new Pope had gone into the conclave with the most buzz among two dozen leading candidates. He had impressed many faithfuls with his stirring homily at the funeral of John Paul II, who died April 2 at age 84.

White smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel and bells tolled earlier to announce the conclave had produced a pope. Flag-waving pilgrims in St Peter’s Square chanted: “Viva il Papa!” or “Long live the Pope!” The bells rang after a confusing smoke signal that Vatican  Radio initially suggested was black but then declared that it was too difficult to call. White smoke is used to announce a pope’s election to the world. It was one of the fastest elections in the past century: Pope Pius XII was elected in 1939 in three ballots on one day, while Pope John Paul I was elected in 1978 in four ballots in one day. The new Pope was elected after four ballots over two days.

“It’s only been 24 hours, surprising how fast he was elected,” Vatican Radio said, commenting on how the new Pope was elected after just four or five ballots. The timing, more than one hour before the end of the afternoon session, indicated that the Pontiff may have been chosen on the fourth ballot, although it was not immediately known. Voting began Monday night with a single ballot, and there were two ballots to be held Tuesday morning and afternoon. The cardinals took an oath of secrecy, meaning they are forbidden to divulge how the voting went. Under conclave rules, a winner needed two-thirds support, or 77 votes from the 115 cardinal electors. (AP)

German Ambassador happy with new Pope

GERMAN Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Helmut Ohlraun, said the quick election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the 265th pontiff was an indication of the great support he enjoyed by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. Speaking to Newsday shortly after Ratzinger was announced as Pope Benedict XVI, Ambassador Ohlraun said, “of course it is a very happy event and a great honour for Germany.” He said he was “impressed by the quick decision which shows great support he (Pope) enjoys from the leaders of the Catholic Church.”

However, the Ambassador pointed out that the nationality of the new Pope was second to his position and role within the church. He added, like “Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der has said, the new Pope is a worthy successor to John Paul II.” Ambassador Ohlraun said officials in Germany have already sent out congratulatory messages to Vatican City and he will also send a similar message to the Papal Nuncio here in Trinidad, His Excellency Thomas E Gullickson.

New Pope was Vatican’s man of doctrinal crackdowns

TRAUNSTEIN, Germany: A man of deep personal faith who choked up as he delivered the homily at Pope John Paul II’s funeral, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has also alienated some Roman Catholics with his zeal in enforcing church orthodoxy. And on those issues, the new Pope Benedict XVI is immovable. Even as the cardinals who elected him prayed before the conclave, Ratzinger urged them to cling to church tradition and warned about the dangers of abandoning it. “Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labelled today as a fundamentalism,” he said Monday. “Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and ‘swept along by every wind of teaching,’ looks like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards.”

They were words that would go over well in the conservative Alpine foothills of Bavaria where Ratzinger grew up and remains a favourite son. Now, at 78, he has become the 265th pope of the Catholic Church and the first Germanic pope since monarchs imposed four men from that region in a row in the 11th century. “Only someone who knows tradition is able to shape the future,” said the Rev Thomas Frauenlob, who heads the seminary in Traunstein where Ratzinger studied and regularly returns to visit. But opinion about him remains deeply divided in Germany, a sharp contrast to John Paul, who was revered in his native Poland. A recent poll for Der Spiegel news weekly said Germans opposed to Ratzinger becoming pope outnumbered supporters 36 percent to 29 percent, with 17 percent having no preference. The poll of 1,000 people, taken April 5-7, gave no margin of error.

Many blame Ratzinger for decrees from Rome barring Catholic priests from counselling pregnant teens on their options and blocking German Catholics from sharing communion with their Lutheran brethren at a joint gathering in 2003. Ratzinger has clashed with prominent theologians at home, most notably the liberal Hans Kueng, who helped him obtain a teaching post at the University of Tuebingen in the 1960s. He has also sparred openly in articles with fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a moderate who has urged less centralised church governance and was considered a dark horse papal candidate.

“He has hurt many people and far overstepped his boundaries in Germany,” said Christian Wiesner, spokesman for the pro-reform Wir Sind Kirche, or We Are Church movement. Ratzinger may have softened his image — at least among his colleagues — with the delivery of the homily at John Paul II’s funeral. Choking back tears, the cardinal said “we can be sure our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us.” Ratzinger left Tuebingen during student protests in the late 1960s and moved to the more conservative University of Regensburg in his home state of Bavaria. Catholics and Protestants each account for about 34 percent of the German population, but Bavaria is one of the more heavily Catholic areas.

“What Wadowice was for John Paul, Bavaria is for Ratzinger,” said Frauenlob, referring to John Paul II’s hometown in southern Poland. The cardinal was born in Marktl Am Inn, but his father, a policeman, moved frequently and the family left when he was two. He and his older brother, Georg — former director of the renowned Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir — return annually to the peaceful halls of St Michael’s Seminary to stay in the elegant, but sparsely furnished bishop’s apartment next to the church. An accomplished pianist who loves Mozart, Ratzinger enjoys playing the grand piano in the seminary’s main hall, and walking through downtown Traunstein greeting people, Frauenlob said.

Traunstein was also where Ratzinger went through the harrowing years of Nazi rule and World War II. In his memoirs, Ratzinger wrote that he was enrolled in the Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He said he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood. Two years later he was drafted into a Nazi anti-aircraft unit as a helper, a common task for teenage boys too young to be soldiers. A year later he was released, only to be sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to construct tank barriers.

He deserted the Germany army in May 1945 and returned to Traunstein — a risky move, since deserters were shot on the spot if caught, or publicly hanged as examples to others. When he arrived home, US soldiers took him prisoner and held him in a POW camp for several weeks. Upon his release, he re-entered the seminary. Ratzinger was ordained, along with his brother, in 1951. He then spent several years teaching theology. In 1977, he was appointed bishop of Munich and elevated to cardinal three months later by Pope Paul VI.