"Benedetto" scores big time on all fronts

In St. Peter's Square at dusk yesterday, as he gave his first Papal Blessing, a wildly cheering crowd of more than 100,000 affectionately called him "Benedetto!" Meanwhile, sincere accolades have been pouring in from throughout the globe.

However, not even elected for 24 hours yet and already the aggressive secular modernists and radical leftists are severely criticizing, labeling and defaming His Holiness -- especially on "progressive" Internet list servers, chat rooms, news groups, etc. -- as was to be expected from such whiney malcontents...

Within His Holiness' first public Mass in the Sistine Chapel as Pontiff today, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute in accented Italian to "The Great John Paul II." Symbolic of continuity, within his hands is the same cruciform pastoral staff that his beloved predecessor of blessed memory also carried.

Preaching in Latin, he stated that his "primary task" would be to work without fail to reunify all Christians. Yet he has courageously condemned "religious pluralism" and relativism over the years, the idea that other religions can hold the way to salvation (syncretism), and has blocked radical priests who support such contrary views. During the Millennium, Cardinal Ratzinger was the driving voice of the Vatican document "Dominus Jesus" which called for a new Catholic evangelism and aptly described other faiths as lesser searches for the truth.

His election yesterday in four ballots over two days — the first of Tuesday's afternoon session — concluded one of the shortest conclaves in 100 years. He is the oldest pope elected since +Clement XII in 1730 and the first Germanic pope in almost a millennium. So get ready for some old time religion...

The Holy Spirit gives us Renewed Leadership!

LORD JESUS CHRIST -- LEAD US!

The Vicar of Christ
Pope Benedict XVI

Was it just a mere oversight that POPE BENEDICT XVI made his Papal debut this afternoon over the Papal Coat-of-Arms of his beloved predecessor St. John Paul the Great? I think not.

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (MATT. 16:18-19.)

"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.")

Oops... Some RETRACTIONS and CORRECTIONS

My deepest apologies and profound condolences go out to the Phanar and the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago. Last Monday I reported the repose of the late Archbishop Iakovos, former Primus of the Greek Orthodox Church in North and South America. HOWEVER, I RAN THE WRONG PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WRONG BISHOP IAKOVOS.

Thankfully, the Metropolitan Iakovos whom I then portrayed in error (Monday, April 11th - BELOW. His Eminence' portrait has since been removed.) is in fact very much alive and still shepherding the GO Metropolis of Chicago.

It was my intention to publish an official photo of the late Archbishop Iakovos in his youth and vitality, rather then one in his later retirement years. (Which is also what I strived to do with our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul the Great.) But instead I hastily retrieved the wrong one from my archives since it was the most handsome one I could then find.

Rather, ABOVE is the actual and departed Archbishop Iakovos who went on to his eternal reward last week as pictured with our former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- and the next President of the USA (if and when he abandons his "pro-choice" stance.)

This happened to me once before with our own former Primate: ....On August 28, 1990 my late Father-in-Christ, Metropolitan Paul Aftimios I (Abp. Mario Gerardo Vieites, an autocephalous metropolitan) suddenly reposed ten days after he ordained me to the Sacred Priesthood. I was delegated to write his obituary and send it to the local media. Much to my surprise and horror, the local newspapers ran the name and bio of a local Bishop in Brooklyn, NY - who telephoned me the next day. Somehow I had transposed my pile of manuscripts and submitted the wrong one. Fortunately for this priest, the surviving prelates had a good sense of humor and forgave me. But I still wear that egg on my face.

Also, regarding the Papal Conclave, I was incorrect to state (on Tues., April 5th, BELOW) that the black and white smoke signals coming from the burnt ballots from the Sistine Chapel would no longer indicate the votes which "....will now be accomplished only by the pealing of church bells instead..." RATHER, the bells from St. Peter's Basilica will now SUPPLEMENT the smoke (with the novel addition of chemical additives) so there is no more confusion as there was in the last Conclave when smoke colors could not be distinguished. Therefore, we will now have both. ....And the new Pontiff will make his debut at the balcony 45 minutes later.

As a sage once wrote, "He who is his own editor has a fool for a writer." I sincerely apologize for and regret these errors. Mea culpea, Mea culpea. Mea maxima culpea.