German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, was elected Pope on Tuesday despite a widespread assumption he was too old and divisive to win election.
I'd ask readers to post in the comments section every variation of this sentence that you see over the next couple days.
When you leave your offerings, be sure to give the source and, where possible, a link. And if the comments aren't working, send an email to galleyslaves@gmail.com. Thanks.
Update: "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the church's leading hard-liner, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium."
--William J. Kole, Associated Press
"Thanks for your emails both sympathizing and telling me to leave the Church entirely. But I am still in shock. This was not an act of continuity. There is simply no other figure more extreme than the new Pope on the issues that divide the Church. No one. He raised the stakes even further by his extraordinarily bold homily at the beginning of the conclave, where he all but declared a war on modernity, liberalism (meaning modern liberal democracy of all stripes) and freedom of thought and conscience. . . . His views on the subordinate role of women in the Church and society, the marginalization of homosexuals (he once argued that violence against them was predictable if they kept pushing for rights), the impermissibility of any sexual act that does not involve the depositing of semen in a fertile uterus, and the inadmissability of any open discourse with other faiths reveal him as even more hardline than the previous pope."
--Andrew Sullivan
"And what is the creed of the Church? That is for the Grand Inquisitor to decide."
--Andrew Sullivan
"And so the Catholic church accelerates its turn toward authoritarianism, hostility to modernity, assertion of papal supremacy and quashing of internal debate and dissent. We are back to the nineteenth century."
--Andrew Sullivan
" A man of deep personal faith who choked up as he delivered the homily at Pope John Paul II's funeral, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger also has alienated some Roman Catholics with his zeal in enforcing church orthodoxy."
--Melissa Eddy, Associated Press
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a hard-line doctrinal watchdog, was elected by Roman Catholic cardinals in Vatican City today as the successor to the enormously popular John Paul II as pope for the world's one billion Catholics. . . . The Catholic Church is hugely divided and many of its members are seriously disaffected."
--Daryl Strickland, Los Angeles Times
Update II: "In the Vatican, he has been the driving force behind crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination."
--CNN
" Joseph Ratzinger, the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, turned 78 last Saturday and is widely expected to maintain John Paul II's deeply conservative line."
--London Telegraph
"Hardline Catholics got their man Tuesday, when the College of Cardinals elected its dean, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as the 265th pope. . . . Ratzinger is generally considered to have been a driving force behind several of the Catholic Church's strictest and most social divisive moves in recent years. In particular, he has held the line on homosexuality, women's ordination, and the vein of progressive thinking known as liberation theology. Going into the secret conclave, many observers wondered whether the cardinals would seek a kind of compromise figure, but that was not to be."
--Rema Rahman, Village Voice
"Hard-liner Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected the leader of the world’s one billion Roman Catholics after the conclave of 115 Cardinals ended Tuesday evening."
--Newsweek
Update III: "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a hard-line guardian of conservative doctrine, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium."
--MSNBC
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a strict doctrinal conservative who believes the church should hold fiercely to its fundamental beliefs against the pressures of secularism, emerged from St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI today."
--Ken Dilanian and Matthew Schofeld, Knight Ridder
9 comments:
i like this paragraph muchly.
Ratzinger's stern leadership of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor to the Inquisition, delighted conservative Catholics but upset moderates and other Christians whose churches he described as deficient.
just finished his first blessing and they're bringing up the inquisistion ...... again.
Just go to Andrew Sullivan's blog, he is throwing a hissy fit.
"Ratzinger served John Paul II 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."
---MSNBC News Services
I'm waiting for someone in the press to dub him, "The German Shepherd".
My Prediction: Sullivan will make a dramatic post to his blog in the next several weeks about his "heart-breaking" decision to leave the Church. Not that he actually attends Church or follows anything the Church teaches. He's about as Catholic as I am, and I'm Jewish. I don't think he quite understands the concept of religion or organized religion. You can't simply call yourself a member of a certain religion simply because you want to or because your parents belonged to that religion, you actually have to practice the teachings of the religion, or at least some of them. I'd be interested to know exactly what teachings of the Catholic church Sullivan actually follows. I guess that makes me an inquisitor. I'll even predict Sullivan's first sentence in his exodus post: "Though it pains me more than any decision I have ever made, I can no longer consider myself a member of a Church that seeks to deny homosexuals the most basic human dignity" blah blah blah blah....
i like what and the way anonymous posted.
well stated.
From the BBC:
"Schooled in the Nazis' power of rhetoric during his childhood in Bavaria, the Pope later deserted the German Army during World War II, only to be sent to a POW camp when the Allies reached his hometown."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/profile/
From the Orange County Register (online):
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press Writer
"VATICAN CITY (AP) -- With unusual speed and little surprise, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany became Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, a 78-year-old transitional leader who promises to enforce strictly conservative policies for the world's Roman Catholics."
AND
"Not everyone was happy, however. Jose Silvano, a 40-year-old travel agent from Brazil, called Ratzinger "the right pope for the cardinals, but not for the people. We were hoping for a South American, a Brazilian, a pope who would work for the neediest and the rights of women and children."
Niels Hendrich, 40, of Hamburg, Germany, jumped up and down at the prospect of a new pope - but then gave only three halfhearted claps when he learned who it was.
"I am not happy about this at all," he said. "Ratzinger will put the brakes on all the progressive movements in the church that I support.""
um, guys, not to rain on the parade, but if a guy's considered by the pope himself to be his primary enforcer of orthodoxy, has written multiple papers on the need to eliminate liberal influences in the church, and was the head of the frikkin' Inquisition, which was not some artifact but an active part of iner-faith discipline -- what's a guy got to do for you to consider it fair game to be called "conservative"?
And I see nothing factually inaccurate -- or even biased in the MSNBC quote. That was his position. Fact, right? That's in the Church's own press release. And that was the job description. I mean, really.
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