And the new Pope is the former Cardinal Ratzinger!

[DemBones DemBones]

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Don't panic yet, kids! He'll be a good administrator and

we need that. And he may be more liberal than you all think right now.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Panic doesn't begin to cover it.

This is a disaster.

[4_Legs_Good]

12. Agreed

2005 is a year that will live in infamy.

david

[XanaDUer]

3. Please give me hope!

I am about to cry all over again.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. Pope Benedict XVI will be his name.

[Cuban_Liberal]

5. Benedict XVI.

x(

[Midlodemocrat]

6. Which is a sign of hope, maybe

Benedict XV was pretty moderate after Pius X. So maybe, just maybe.

[fishwax]

8. Let's hope

I don't have a good feeling about this, though :(

[CBHagman]

7. I'm Roman Catholic. This is very, very, very bad news.

I can scarcely imagine a figure more likely to divide the church and also alienate other faiths. Oh, please, God, help us.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. I am holding out hope that the choice of the name

Benedict XVI is a good thing. Benedict XV was pretty moderate.

[DemBones DemBones]

11. I'm Roman Catholic and I'm going to give Benedict XVI a chance.

He's making a good speech without notes and his Italian is good. He's talking about following the great John Paul II and how he will need the help of his fellow cardinals.

The last Pope Benedict (XV) was a liberal. . . He has to know that.

[AlCzervik]

10. I'm sorry catholic du'ers, my husband who is roman catholic just

called me and was having a F*ck fest, he's pissed and very disappointed.

[AngryOldDem]

16. Very, very disappointing, but, sadly, not all that surprising

This is potentially a disaster for the Church. Maybe they are seeing him in a caretaker role. But just as change can come with a caretaker (John XXIII), a caretaker can most certainly reverse it as well.

All we can do is keep an open mind, but given Ratzinger's track record in the Congregation for the Faith, we'd better fasten our seat belts just the same.

Already it's been said that the bishops are going to have a lot of explaining to do when they get back home, especially United States and Latin American bishops.

[mrgorth]

13. Ugh.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. Yesterday I played around with the Pope-U-Lator and

discovered that if you gave importance only to following a conservative agenda that Ratzinger was in the top five -- no surprises there.

But if you gave highest importance only to following a progressive agenda and following Vatican II, Ratzinger was still in the top five. There's a surprise!

If you gave importance only to being a good administrator, again Ratzinger was in the top five.

If you gave importance only to being a good theologian, Ratzinger was in the top five.

No other cardinal ranked in the top five in all those categories.

So, assuming the people who set up the Pope-U-Lator did their homework, Ratzinger may have been the best choice, though he placed last with all of us.

The people in St. Peter's Square are happy and cheering; John Paul II trusted Cardinal Ratzinger and would not allow him to retire (they just said he had tried to retire a couple of times and John Paul refused to accept his resignation) so I'm going to have a positive attitude about Pope Benedict XVI and pray for him to be a good pope and a great help to our Holy Church.

[XanaDUer]

15. What is the Pope-U-Lator?

I would like to see that. I know someone else who would, too. ;)

[DemBones DemBones]

17. It's a website someone posted the link to the other day.

http://www.pope-u-lator.com

I think it's been disabled as far as running the pope-u-lator and name-u-lator programs. All I can get now is the main page with HABEMUS PAPAM and a photo of Cardinal Ratzinger -- no official photo of Pope Benedict XVI yet available!

I'm going to pray for the new pope and give him a chance. I've lived through six popes and five conclaves now and nobody knows at the beginning of a papacy how the new pope will do.