New Pope

Joseph Ratzinger has been elected as the new pope of the Catholic Church. This probably should not come as a surprise, since Ratzinger and John Paul II held similar views on church doctrine, and since John Paul II chose the vast majority of the cardinals who gathered to elect Ratzinger today.

Unfortunately for Catholics who were hoping for a more liberal turn in the direction of the Catholic Church, Ratzinger is not a likely candidate for moderating reforms in Catholic doctrine. One of his more well-known projects is heading up the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is "historically related to the Inquisition." In this capacity, Ratzinger has been an enforcer of church orthodoxy, preventing priests with liberal leanings from rising in the ranks of the Church.

There are many things that are disturbing about this choice. It appears to be a movement by the leading cardinals of the Catholic church away from accepting modern realities. Ratzinger complains that the church is falling apart in Europe, but it seems clear that at least part of the problem there is that it doesn't speak to most of the people in Europe.

What also disturbs me is this: given that Ratzinger was of particular assistance to John Paul II as his health was failing, Ratzinger was one of the people most responsible for the Vatican's disastrous response to the child abuse scandals in Boston a few years ago. Rather than facing the reality of abuse and addressing it forthrightly, the Vatican chose to lift Bernard Law out of Boston, effectively removing him from the reach of US law, and giving him work in the Vatican. Ratzinger honored Law by allowing him to celebrate one of nine funeral masses for John Paul II. In this horrifying scandal, the church, with Ratzinger's full knowledge, is protecting and honoring the protector of abusers. Because of a refusal to face reality, the hierarchy is protecting one of its own and in the process inflicting untold damage on the people it is supposed to be serving.

Ratzinger has chosen the name Benedict XVI. The last Benedict--number 15--was a moderate in the wake of Pius X's conservatism. Let us hope that Ratzinger's Benedict will follow in his namesake's footsteps, rather than his own.