[pbear8]

We know that Joe would be a cool pick, but consider how well the libs organized themselves and got Rahner and Schillebeckx (sp?) in charge of many VatII reforms.

These guys know this has been coming, may St. Michael protect and defend us.

[sinkspur]

We know that Joe would be a cool pick, but consider how well the libs organized themselves and got Rahner and Schillebeckx (sp?) in charge of many VatII reforms.

Look up your Vatican II history. Ratzinger was right there, arm-in-arm with Rahner, pushing for the same reforms. In fact, Ratzinger himself was criticized by the "conservative" forces at Vatican II--the Ottaviani wing--for taking on the Holy Office (the very position he now holds and under the direction of Cardinal Ottaviani). As periti for the nearly blind Cardinal Frings, he criticized the Holy Office, asserting that its “methods and behavior do not conform to the modern era and are a source of scandal to the world.”

Here is a long article about Ratzinger that summarizes and synthesizes his life, by John Allen who wrote a biography of Ratzinger, and calls him "The Enforcer."

Ratzinger himself will never be Pope, and a sufficient number of cardinals resent him so that anyone he openly campaigns for will not become Pope either.