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Cardinal Ratzinger to be Benedict XVI
By Ian Fisher
The New York Times
April 20, 20005
Vatican City
Roman Catholic cardinals on Tuesday reached to the church's conservative wing and chose as the 265th pope Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a seasoned and hard-line German theologian who served as John Paul II's defender of the faith. At 5:50 p.m., wisps of white smoke puffed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel where the cardinals were meeting, signaling that the new pope had been chosen only a day after the secret conclave began. His name was not announced until nearly an hour later, after the great bell at St. Peter's tolled, with tension rising in the swelling crowd before the scarlet curtain over the central balcony parted and a cardinal announced in Latin: "Habemus Papem!" or "We have a pope!" "Dear brothers and sisters," Ratzinger said in a clear voice, spreading his arms wide over the crowd, "after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble worker in the Lord's vineyard." He announced his name as Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, 78, is the first German pope in centuries. His installation as pope will be Sunday. The previous pope who took the name Benedict XV was an Italian who presided from 1914 to 1922 during World War I. A diplomat, his efforts to end the war were ignored by both sides, and the papacy was not invited to the peace conference that followed hostilities. The unusually brief conclave seemed to suggest that Ratzinger was a popular choice inside the college of 115 cardinals who elected him, a man who shared - if at times went beyond - John Paul's conservative theology and seemed ready to take over the job after serving beside him for more than two decades. It was not clear, however, how popular a choice he was on St. Peter's Square: The applause for the new pope, while genuine and sustained among many, tapered off decisively in large pockets, reflecting reservations about his doctrinal rigidity and about whether an already polarized church will now find less to bind it together. His well-known stands include: his assertion that Catholicism is the "truth" and other religions are "deficient;" his belief that Catholicism is in competition with Islam; and his opposition to homosexuality, women priests and stem cell research. "I kind of do think he will try to unite Catholics," said Linda Nguyen, 20, an American student studying in Rome who had wrapped her hand in six rosaries. "But he might scare people away." Vincenzo Jammace, a teacher from Rome, stood below the balcony and said: "This is the gravest error." But Ratzinger's many supporters said they believed that the rule of Benedict XVI, as with the conservative Benedict XV, would be clear and uncompromising about what it means to be a Roman Catholic. "It's not enough to believe in Jesus Christ - we need someone to follow," Rocco Buttiglione, an Italian academic and politician who was friends with John Paul and Ratzinger, said in the huge crowd. "He has experienced modernity and he is convinced that modernity is a problem and Jesus Christ is the answer." "It's not that Christianity has a problem and modernity is the answer," he added. Of eight conclaves since 1903, only two previous ones had ended after two days, the last in 1978 when Cardinal Albino Luciani, patriarch of Venice, was chosen. He took the name John Paul I. In making their choice, cardinals from 52 countries definitively answered several questions about the direction of the Roman Catholic church at the start of its third millennium. They did not reach outside of Europe, perhaps to Latin America, to reflect the growth of the church there and in Asia and Africa. They did not return the job to an Italian; an Italian had held the papacy for 455 years before Karol Wojtyla was elected John Paul II in 1978. John Paul was virtually unknown when he was selected, but Ratzinger's record is long and articulate in a prolific academic career before he became John Paul II's doctrinal watchdog in 1981. In many ways, the cardinals picked John Paul's theological twin but his opposite in presence and personality. Where John Paul II was charismatic and tended to soften his rigid stands with warmth, Ratzinger is a less dynamic man - shy and humble in private, his friends say - who pulls few punches in public about his strong beliefs. Whatever the future holds, the white smoke and the deeply resonating bell Tuesday evening were the signals thousands of people in St. Peter's Square had been waiting for. Long streams of Romans hurried to the square and horns blared as people rushed to learn who had been selected. People cheered and clapped at seeing the white smoke and hearing the bell, signs that the Vatican had said would indicate that the new pope had been chosen. There was a lag of several minutes between the appearance of a first wisp of smoke curling up and the ringing of the bell, adding to the uncertainty that many people waiting in the square had endured Tuesday morning, and also after the cardinals had started their conclave Monday afternoon, when there had been questions about the smoke's color. Black smoke signals that the cardinals have not reached a decision. Cheering and clapping, pilgrims chanted "Benedict! Benedict!" as the new pontiff appeared. "I am comforted by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and act even with insufficient instruments. And above all I entrust myself to your prayers," the new pope said.