They ain't gonna be happy... it's Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a strong conservative.

JFH, that's Orthodox, not "conservative"

Ratzinger is an amazing choice, and one that has the libs dancing for joy as much as Orthodox Catholic suc as myself.

Whats the deal with his new name? Pope Benedict XVI?

Shouldn't the natural successor to Pope John Paul be Pope George Ringo?

How about "Pope Joseph Ratzinger"?

Pope Benedict is just kickin' it OLD school. This will be a great reawakening for the Catholic Church, and a serious clamping down on the near heretical practices of many American Catholic Dioceses.

XVI, not X

I was rooting for Arinze-- no-nonsense clamping down is good.

But just to set aside any serious thought on the matter-- is it me, or does Ratzinger look like Emperor Palpatine?

On review, it's not just me. I await the first Emperor Pope-patine photoshops. I give it an hour or so.

This guy won't get good press based on the last name alone. Ratzinger? Hall of fame worst last names. That's the tight ass dean who's gonna shut it all down if there's 'one more crazy party.' Also,

Larry: "Hey, someone must've sabotaged our experiment!"
Cool Joe: "But who?"
pause.
Everyone (in unison): "RATZINGER!"

He was screwed day one.

My thoughts were 1) and Italian, 2) Arinze, 3) Ratzinger.

My preferences were exactly the oppposite. I would have liked Arinze, too, if only b/c he's an apostate of Islam, but also b/c he's a good and orthodox bishop.

The choice of Ratzinger is the Lord's work, for certian though, and I hope the increase of orthodoxy will improve vocations and zeal of the faithful.

We"re not Methodists, for Pete's sake. Let's act like Catholics now.

And I would say a younger, less EVIL Palpatine.

While no longer a Catholic (the whole atheism thing gets in the way) I am happy to see a good orthodox chosen. If you're doing to claim to follow God's thousands of years old laws you shouldn't change them based on the latest Time poll.

Besides who can keep track of Lib policies- Is it OK to be gay yet for them? Cheyney's daughter & theGannon might want to know.

Ray, That's why he picked "Benedict"

Everyone knows the name "Ratzinger" would scare off the college students

If ACE really wanted some crazy blog money, he would invest his t-shirt profits into my nerrw start up business:

Selling "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Guido Sarducci" bumper stickers to all the pissed off NY Times editors, their social liberal readers and disaffected "progressive" Catholics.

Of course, given that he's German, we can assume he already has a plan for world domination.

The only question is whether it involves a giant laser.

Hob: 'Benedict' ain't no winner either. Benidict's the traitor, the guy who sells you out. Also recalls 'Dirk Benedict,' aka Starbuck, aka 'space pussy.'

Hey Jack M shouldn't the sneer quotes be around Catholic, not progressive, i.e.

Selling "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Guido Sarducci" bumper stickers to all the pissed off NY Times editors, their social liberal readers and disaffected progressive "Catholics".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7560325/

MSM has already begun to badmouth him. That's gotta be some sort of record. Even if they had hit pieces ready on each candidate, this was fast work.

Apparently he "alienated" some people in Germany.

Howard,

I actually meant to put scare quotes around BOTH "progressive" and "Catholic" in that sentence, and mistyped it.

"The Truth is not relative..." among his first words as Pope.

That caused the Cafeteria Catholics to lose their bowels.

They called this guy Cardinal "No" because he was the guy in the Vatican who's job it was to lay down the law.

They called him The Enforcer and the Fundamentalist. This will make the liberals foam at the mouth. Chris Matthews probably had to put on a diaper while watching this.

Ray, you're so parochial.

So uncultured, so untravelled, so American. How can you live with yourself, you ignorant rube?

/eurotrash DUmmie.

Outside of Catholic circles, I'd agree, but the name Benedict in the Church means something. It meanthe Rule of St. Benedict, the first monastic rule from the 5th (?) century. It means "old school." It means no more fucking around.

It's the Papal version of "Vinnie Falcone."

no. more. loose. shit.

the moonbats at DU have already picked up on the emperor palpatine thing...there are already photoshops going around, complete with the ever present swastika

I don't think those 'progressive' Catholics understand that being Progressive automatically means they aren't Catholic anymore.

Sorry; if you think premarital sex is okee dokee, and abortion on demand and birth control are inviolable human rights, you are NOT Catholic.

If you think that women who complain that their children are dragging down their real careers are just being honest, and the host is just a cracker and not actually the body of Christ, you are NOT Catholic.

Church no change for you. Go see the Unitarians, they take everybody.

Ratzinger is a good choice: better to stick with one who follows tradition and belief than one who twists in the wind with the polls...that doens't work for a church

Yup. I think I'm going to like Pope Benedict XVI.

And the Kossacks have given him a charming nickname.

Well, I kinda doubt that Frank Rich approves of this, but then again, who would he have approved of? Pope Sinead O'Connor?

I was hoping for "old school" and in that regard I was, for a while, rooting for the couple of hispanic/latino options, for purely political reasons. That's a big voting bloc if you can get them to toe the line.

I wasn't particularly encouraged by the bios I read of the hispanic contenders, though.

It was Arinze who publicly lambasted pro-choice, supposedly Catholic politicians, calling them unfit to receive Communion. .

OK, first changes for the new pope:
For Communion: wine and wafers are out.
Beer and schnitzels are in.
(gonna take a while to wait for a schnitzel
to dissolve, though)

One little note for Randy Andy:

Don't let the door hit ya where yur boyfriend split ya

Sean,

Frank Rich is estatic about this choice. The Catholic Church has been off-limits tocriticism for years b/c of JPII (the Great)'s liberal stance on many issues. The fact that Ratzinger shares those (Catholic) views will be minimzed to accetuate his "hard line" stance on clear church teaching. Oh, the NYT will be having a field day with this

Anyone here familiar with the prophecies of St. Malachy?
I'm sure Ratzinger is...which makes his choice of Benedict a little creepy..."glory of the olives"
http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp

Frank Rich? What about Andrew Sullivan?

Judging from Andy's Web site, he may be ready for another blogging hiatus while he recovers from the shock.

Pope Ratzinger would have been almost as good as Dean Wormer.

I dunno. Choosing a pope over 70 seems foolish. We will be going thru this exercise again in about five years. Or, the newly annointed Pope Benedict will be walking around with drool on his lips for more than a decade.

The one thing that was captivating about John Paul II was his vigor and youth. I thought it made the church seem vibrant and relevant.

Wait til the DU hear he was drafted in the Hitler Youth and then the Whermacht. But since he was an American POW, maybe they'll think Abu Graib and give him a pass. I just let you guys hold your breath.
Since they really have their tits in a pinch over this, he's got to be good.

Its good to get an Orthodox Pope. There's still alot of pussy Catholics out there who need a wake up call. Like the dimwit interviewed by CNN (the only news channel work gets) who asked about getting a female pope. You want touchy feelly be an Anglican.

Ratzinger/Benidictus won't matter much. He's 78. Likely a transitional pope.

That's probably the logic they were using.

I just made the mistake of checking out Excitable Andy's blog. Ugh.

You'd think it was the endo of the world or something.

Shadow (and colon)

Ratzinger's a hale 77-78. People live to be 80s no problem now and he's a European cleric of not-enormous-fatness.

Besides, according to St. Malacy (thx, will, very interesting) he's the second to last and will be in for 3 years until Peter Romanus is elected Pope. Peter will reign until the Apocalypse in 2020. (if you believe in St. Malachy's prophesies)

http://www.truecatholic.org/pope/stmalachyprophecy.htm

http://home.att.net/~thehessians/St.Malachy.html

"Beer and schnitzels are in."

COOL. Count me in.

Do I have to take a class or something?

Oh yeah, it's Catholicism, I DO.

Later,
bbeck

Geez, Hob, I thought you said "Malarky"...which would have been SO much more appropriate...

Later,
bbeck

bbeck, us guys probably don't need to start thinking about you in a St Pauli Girl outfit, with a couple of liters of beer.

Or you and weisswurst.

On a Catholic thread.

Know what I'm sayin'?

(oh the guilt already!)

Heh. Check this out.

I stopped believing that "transitional pope" jazz when I found out the College of Cardinals thought they were electing a "transitional" pope when they elected John XXIII..... and they got Vatican II instead.

Andrew Sullivan's meltdown is so delicious.

Oh, the Sully stuff is too rich. I had the EXACT opposite reaction to the Benedict XVI quote that Sully did. I thought it was wonderful. Here on Foxnews, an American Priest is already saying the US is going to have a problem with him ... @@.

Twist in that wind Sully!

So, what religion is Sully going to convert to?
Place bets now!

I don't think Sully is going to like that Pope Benedict referred to the purpertrators of the homo-child abuse-sex scandal in the church as filth

Iblis,

One thing I do is represent victims of priest sex abuse. (yes, yes, against my own beloved Church. it is an act of faith for me to cleanse the Church of this cancer of ignoring and "tolerating" such (true) "filth).

You're absolutely right that in these cases, the perpetrators are 99% homosexual in their choice of victims (I'm not saying the priests are what most consider as "gays," but the crimes are, as Iblis put it, correctly considered "homosexual" in nature)

This calling to task of extreme deviancy, and the attendant calling into question of what most in the West consider "lesser" deviancy (if deviancy at all), must have Sully sputtering with rage.

I'm waiting for the first "GOB SMAKINGLY VILE" post from Sully regarding Pope Benedict.

I don't know why he's not officially Anglican already. he "left" the Church lie 2 years ago by his own admission.

I think you should run a "GOB SMAKINGLY VILE" day here at AoS HQon that day, Ace .

Carin, I'm not even Catholic and I had the same reaction. I read the quote and thought, "Okay, makes sense to me." And then I stepped back and watched the steam come out of Andy's ears.

Incidentally, The MSM is already spinning this selection. Cokie Roberts described him as an "extremely controversial" pope within moments of the announcement, and apparently the BBC is making Sully's reaction look nuanced and thoughtful.

Get those fuckers Hob!

Iblis,

Thx. We have been. The banko right now is a bit fucked up, but in the long run, it will likely work out.

Ace, just for today, I think you should subtitle your site "THE DREAD RISES."

Your "sinister lobsters" crack looks remarkably prescient now. At the time you wrote it, it was just remarkably plausible.

Hob:

Thanks for doing that. It's very important and I'm frankly quite moved by what you are doing.

Couple of things:

1) Check out the Holy See site on the new Pope. Make sure to click on "Biography." It's quite nice.

2) Echoing lauraw and others. Can someone please stop thinking of Catholic Church Tradition and Biblical teachings as some sort of malleable set of ideas? The next time you read the news, and they get a quote from some fucking group like "Catholics for Choice," these people are not Catholic. Give me a fucking break. No one said you have to join the Church. Love it or hate it, but understand what it is before you criticize. Isn't that what leads to tolerance? Understanding what we knee-jerk kick in the ass so we stop kicking it in the ass. If you understand and still want to kick it in the ass, go right ahead, but at least you'll have an understanding of what you are criticizing. But then, if you've learned to understand why the Church holds the beliefs it holds, then you'd no longer criticize it. Unless you like criticizing a dog for being a dog.

Slugblog:

If you are going to do us the pleasure of sacrificing yourself by exposing what's being written at KOS, could you at least put some kind of warning on there? Good grief. Did I really have to read that? Yes, I did. Thanks.

Excuse me while I go make a loaf of bread. Or something.

I'm not sure what all this to-do is about John Ratzenberger. I loved him in Cheers and A Bridge Too Far.

And for the record, I think most Catholics, including me, have the following reaction to the election of Benedict XVI: may God bless and keep John Paul II, and Christ watch over His new vicar.

I mean, c'mon, the apostolic succession is supposed to be directed by the Holy Spirit. God works in mysterious ways and all that. Angels can't understand the fundamental mystery of Christ's wounds, but we're supposed to look to men to judge the suitability of a Pope?

I'm not particularly religious, but damn, you'd think even an atheist would find that laughable on its face. Neither faith nor disbelief voids basic logic.

In sum, excitable Andy seems to have skipped a catechism or two at Sunday school. Yet again. But hey, who cares about eternal salvation if it puts GAY MARRIAGE at risk?!

Yeah, I guess this means John Ratzenberger will quit doing "Made In The USA" on Travel Channel.