Pope Benedict XVI
April 20, 2005
Well, we have a new Pope. For some reason, I never mentioned my reaction to John-Paul's death on my blog. I've been Catholic my whole life (well, at least as long as I can remember. I wasn't baptised until I was around 5-6) and, like all young Catholics, John-Paul is the only Pope I've ever had. Also like many, I grew up adoring that spunky old guy with the cool hat. I remember doing a biography project about him in my ninth grade history class. I remember being impressed when I learned he spoke 8 or 10 languages. I remember when I first met another young Catholic named John-Paul (there are a lot of JPs nowadays). I was greatly saddened to see him go and apprehensive about the direction in which the Church would proceed under a new Pope.
Now that we have a new Pope, I've had several reactions. I was surprised to find out that the electors picked the only Cardinal I knew by name. Anyone who hangs around theologians as much as I do knows the name of Joseph Ratzinger, since as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it was his job to keep the Catholic theologians from drifting away from Church teaching. Many of those same theologians are now worried he might take an even more strict role in stifling dissent.
However, I am hopeful. While I doubt as many parents will decide to name their children Benedict, I like his choice of name. I had to look up the previous Benedicts to figure out why he chose it. In our new Holy Father's address today, he says that he wants to continue the work of John-Paul in reaching out to other Christians and other faiths and also to continue implementing the reforms of Vatican II. Both of these statements consoled me and gave me more confidence that the Cardinals, with the help of the Holy Spirit, made the right choice. To be honest, most of what I've heard about Cardinal Ratzinger would make me pessimistic, but I have faith in God's guidance and I want to see what he actually does, not what people talk about what he might do, before giving an opinion.
Regardless, we should all say a special prayer for the Pope this week. Inheriting John-Paul's legacy will not be easy.