VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became the 265 th pope of the Catholic Church on Tuesday, bringing joy and tears to tens of thousands who had waited patiently for hours in St. Peter’s Square for a decision by the cardinal electors.
The 78-year-old German, who immediately took the name Benedict XVI, appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica less than an hour after white smoke billowed from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. The new pope, who was dressed in a white cassock, white skull cap and brilliant red cape, approached the balcony railing and smiled almost shyly. The leader of the billion-member church then addressed the crowd and gave his first blessing.
"Dear brothers and sisters, after our great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me — a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers," he said.
He was greeted with shouts of "Viva il Papa" and continuous ovations.
Ratzinger, a cardinal since 1977, spent 20 years as theological adviser to John Paul II and became dean of the College of Cardinals in November 2002. He was elected on the fourth ballot by 115 cardinal electors a day after they began meeting to choose a successor to John Paul. Ratzinger needed at least 77 votes, a two-thirds majority, for election.
The new pope was to return Tuesday night to St. Martha’s House, where he and the other 114 cardinals attending the con- clave had been sequestered since Sunday night, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told the Religion News Service. Ratzinger was to dine with them and spend the night there instead of moving immediately into the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace.
Today, he will celebrate Mass in Latin with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, where they voted to elect him pontiff. Benedict’s inauguration is Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica.
It had been a confusing day for the thousands gathered under a partly cloudy sky in St. Peter’s Square. The morning’s chimney watching resulted in mixed signals as the results of the first ballots of the day were translated into smoke at 11:52 a.m. local time.
"It’s definitely black," one woman said loudly, then changed her mind. "No, that’s white." The glare from the drifting clouds made it hard to see for sure.
Silence swept over the square as the smoke drifted away in wisps, then started up again a few minutes later.
No one was sure what they were seeing as they looked from chimney to giant TV screens and back again to the roof of the Sistine Chapel. It was clear the tradition of proclaiming a new pope with smoke is an inexact science.
The crowd was waiting for the bells that Navarro-Valls said would accompany the white smoke and thus eliminate questions over the smoke’s color.
So when the Angelus Bell, which rings at various times during the day — including noon — began chiming, the crowd almost went crazy.
Sue Zaunbrecher from New Orleans leaped up on her gray plastic chair and was ready to catapult herself to the front of the crowd.
"Let’s go," she said to four friends who were traveling with her. "I’m gonna be there."
The confusion was compounded by the firing of the Cannon of Gianicolo, which also goes off at noon every day.
But eventually it became evident that no more bells were going to ring, and the crowd settled down, many leaving for lunch.
Lauren Wolfe of Rogers, leaned against a wooden railing and waited. She and two friends were in Berlin on April 2 when they heard the news that John Paul II died. They rearranged a trip to Switzerland so they could be in Rome for the selection of the new pope.
"I’ve done more boring things," said Wolfe, 20, of the hours spent watching the roof of the chapel. "And when the smoke came out, it was great."
The cardinals reconvened at 4 p.m. Tuesday, and an hour later the piazza was more crowded than the night before when the first ballot results had been given.
The weather turned chilly and overcast, however, and rain sprinkled off and on. But the assembled masses did not have long to wait.
At 5:50 p.m. a murmur spread through the sea of people as smoke once again began to drift into the air. After the morning’s confusion, they were hesitant to believe their eyes. With the clouds scudding across the sky behind the chimney, it was hard to tell black from gray from white.
But at 6:02, the huge bell on the left of the basilica began to sway, and even before its momentum produced the first reverberating gong, the crowd knew.
"It’s white! It’s white!" they cried in different languages into cell phones.
The bells in St. Peter’s pealed out the message, and people all over the city had been waiting for the summons. They came running.
"We were in class and heard the bells. Everyone just deserted the building," said Laurie Meeks, 20, of Seattle, a student at John Cabot University in Rome. "People were running down the street to get here. It happened so fast, we were shocked."
Ratzinger’s message was brief, and shouts of "Viva Papa" and "Ben-i-dee-to" (a fond diminutive of Benedict) echoed for at least an hour after he retreated behind heavy red curtains and into the basilica and his new life.
Ratzinger, at 78, is the oldest pope to be elected since Clement XII, who was chosen in 1730. He is also the first German to be elected pope in nearly 1,000 years.
He is experienced at working within the Vatican circles, having been selected at 35 to be Cardinal Joseph Frings’ consultor at Vatican Council II, which took place from 1962 through 1965.
Besides being dean of the College of Cardinals, Ratzinger was the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was known in the 16 th century as the Inquisition. Through the years, it has been the job of this branch of the Vatican to govern the church by "safeguarding and promoting the faith," according to Vatican literature.
The new pope has been known to speak plainly about upholding traditional Catholic doctrine and maintaining long-held orthodoxy. In his homily at the Mass to begin the conclave on Monday, he warned the congregation to not be "swept along by every wind of teaching."
Those close to the new pope say that the world may be surprised by the man they think they know.
The Rev. J. Augustine DiNoia worked with Ratzinger as his undersecretary at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He said his boss is decisive and fearless but also a "holy, saintly, spiritual man."
"If he were here, you would be struck by a man of immense inner resources," DiNoia said last week. "He has a sense of serenity, shows a sanctity and is extremely smart."
DiNoia added that Ratzinger is a simple man who finds time to read and write — and "he chuckles."
"The image of him as a ‘panzer [tank-like] cardinal’ is ludicrous," DiNoia said.
Seminarians at Rome’s Pontifical North America College were elated with the selection of Ratzinger. They greeted each other in the square with hugs and slaps on the back.
Three young students shared Cuban cigars they had bought in Switzerland the day John Paul II died and saved for this very occasion. They broke open a bottle of Pepsi and toasted the election.
Jason Tyler, whose home church is Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Morrilton, was speechless.
"I don’t think there are enough words to describe the joy I felt," he said Tuesday evening. "It’s nice to go into a papacy knowing the man. I’ve read a lot of what Joseph Ratzinger wrote, and I’ve always been impressed with how clearly he spelled out theology alongside his love for the church. I think we’ll see good things."
The challenges facing the new pope include continuing John Paul II’s legacy of interreligious communications and promoting the faith among an increasingly disinterested European population.
Mary Anne Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences at the Vatican. Vatican spokesman Archbishop John Foley describes her as the "highest-ranking woman in the Catholic Church."
She said the new pope must focus on the issue of spreading the faith.
"The challenges facing the church are the same challenges that have existed since the first century — the evangelization of the culture," Glendon said.
She also mentioned the changing world economy and the traditional Catholic focus on "people who have been left behind."
"John Paul II has left us a legacy," she said. "And I can’t imagine that there won’t be continuity."
Associated Press Pope Benedict XVI waves to the masses from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica shortly after the announcement of his election Tuesday.
Associated Press Priests cheer Tuesday in St. Peter’s Square after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope.
Associated Press Pope Benedict XVI blesses the crowd gathered at St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday. "I entrust myself to your prayers," the new pontiff proclaimed.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/NANCY JEFFERY White smoke over the Sistine Chapel (right) signals the selection of the new pope on Tuesday. Ready for smoke of a different kind, seminarians Joe Shetter, 25, of Jefferson City, Mo., and Brian Needles, 40, of Newark, N.J., pull out cigars in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate.
Associated Press
