"Habemus Papam!" (We have a Pope!) Benedict XVI

Hope for the Future -- Exuberant Traditionalist Seminarians

This is more than I could have hoped for, but always prayed for. POPE BENEDICT XVI emerged from the central Vatican balcony with his Papal Blessing less than an hour ago. High spirited youths were overjoyed to see him. THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF OUR CHURCH!

My Internet readers will recall that the traditionalist, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of Munich, Germany has been my top choice for the next Pope this past decade. They were livid that a priest who is also a gay man could possible support such a staunch traditionalist. Like this new Pope, I was NEVER an advocate of liberal reforms -- especially in The Church whose orthodox concerns have more precedence to me than anything else.

There was an old saying that, "He who enters the conclave as pope leaves as a cardinal." I had almost bought that and so reluctantly prepared a list of alternate favorites. But I held on to St. John Paul the Great's top right hand man whom he personally groomed for this role. But this man will be no mere "interim pope." He has been a prodigious theological writer whose writings weigh down my book shelves. He will continue St. John Paul the Great's defense of it with doctrinal clarity -- and I will be right behind him all the way.

His Holiness turned a young 78 last Saturday and will bring continuity to The Church as the 265th Pope of Rome. The former Cardinal Ratzinger had served as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the International Theological Commission -- and Dean of the College of Cardinals.

He was born on April 16, 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Germany and ordained a priest on June 29, 1951.

His Holiness studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and at the higher school in Freising. In 1953 he obtained a doctorate in theology with a thesis entitled: "The People and House of God in St. Augustine's doctrine of the Church." Four years later, he qualified as a university teacher. He then taught dogma and fundamental theology at the higher school of philosophy and theology of Freising, in Bonn from 1959 to 1969, in Munster from 1963 to 1966, and in Tubinga from 1966 to 1969. From 1969, he was professor of dogmatic theology and of the history of dogma at the University of Regensburg and vice president of the same university.

In March 1977, Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Munich and Freising and on May 28, 1977 he was consecrated thereby becoming the first secular diocesan priest after 80 years to take over the pastoral ministry of this large Bavarian Archdiocese. Created and proclaimed a Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of June 27, 1977, he assumed the titles of the suburbicarian Church of Velletri-Segni (April 5, 1993) and of the suburbicarian Church of Ostia (November 30, 2002).

Already there is a new found enthusiasm in Europe where the RC Church is most in crises.

His Holiness will dine this evening with all the other cardinals in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he will also spend the night. At 9:00 AM (Rome time), the new Pontiff will concelebrate the Holy Mass with the 114 cardinals in the Sistine Chapel and will deliver his homily in Latin.

Gee, the last time we had a Pope Benedict (1914-1922), my late parents were born in the second decade of the last century. So +Benedict the 15th of blessed memory was their Pontiff. (The one who tried to bring peace to the globe during WWI, but was rebuffed -- except in Germany in Austria. Consider that like our former Pope, young Joseph Ratzinger also fell prey to the Nazis and contended with the brutal communists.) Now I have one too...

I'm much relieved that he isn't a Benedictine priest nor took the name "Peter the Roman" as per St. Malachy's prophecies. May His Holiness enjoy a long and fruitful Pontificate in good health!

PS: The new Pope will have an installation this Sunday -- NOT an "inauguration." (And, NO, he will NOT have a "coronation" with the papal three-tiered tiara, which has been sold for the poor.) Rather - and in fact, Almighty God via His Holy Spirit "inaugurates" the new Pope IMMEDIATELY when he gives the papal conclave his fiat (affirms "YES.")