Holy Smoke!

As it turns out, the phrase, Holy Smoke! apparently doesn't have anything to do with electing a pope, but it seems appropriate. The College of Cardinals chose Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Catholic Church today.

After a very short conclave, barely more than twenty-four hours, the College chose Cardinal Ratzinger the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church. From the reports, there was confusion as the smoke, traditionally heralding the election of the Pope, or that no Pope was elected on the ballot, appeared to be white, then gray, then white. More confusion was caused because bells started ringing, but bells normally ring at this time. Cheers went up when the public realized that the smoke was white and the bells were ringing to herald the election of the new Pope.

As his first duty as Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger chose his Papal name: Benedict XVI. Benedict comes from the Latin meaning "blessing". He will preside over Mass on Wednesday, and be formally installed as Pope on Sunday.

Cardinal Ratzinger is the second oldest Cardinal to be elected Pope and only the second German Pope in nearly 1000 years, Pope Clement XII was three months older than the new Pope Benedict when he was elected in 1730. Victor II was the last German speaking Pope, reigning from 1055-1057.

Benedict will face questions because of his past connections to the Nazi Party in WWII. As a youth, he joined the Hitler Youth Corps and later served in an anti-aircraft unit as a helper. I'm not much concerned about him joining the Youth Corps. During WWII, that was nearly compulsory for German youth. Later, he was drafted into the Army and that's where he worked in the anti-aircraft unit. Fairly normal for the Germany Army during the end days of WWII. When he was enlisted as a soldier, he barely finished basic training before the war ended. I'm much more concerned with what he's done with his life since then.

He appears to be a traditionalist, along the lines of Pope John Paul II, and something of a hard-liner. He served John Paul II since 1981 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms. He will face issues such as the sex scandals that have plagued the church, not only in the Untied States, but elsewhere, coping with the shortage of nuns and priests, and finding ways to bring the masses back to the church they feel indifferent and irrelevant.