Free Republic

 WE HAVE A POPE!!! (Cardinal Ratzinger-Pope Benedict XVI)    Habemus Papam! -- We Have a Pope! -- Pope Benedicit XVI    Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany Is New Pope    (LIVE THREAD) The Papal Conclave, Interregnum, Cardinals, Conclave Facts, Prayer and other links    New pope hailed for strong Jewish ties    Ed Koch: The New Pope and Anti-Semitism    APRIL 24, MASS TO INAUGURATE PONTIFICATE OF BENEDICT XVI  KEYWORDS: BENEDICT; BENEDICTXVI;  POPE; RATZINGER;    In Selection of New Pope, Third World Loses Out (Women, children, hit hardest)    God Is My Pilot (We have a Pope. The gates of hell...

Pope Dies, Interregnum Begins "We're vindicated," Say Sedevacantists. * * * SSPX Refuses to Acknowledge Pope's Death Not bound by Vatican rulings, says Bishop. * * * Little-Known Papal Claimant Calls for Unity Excommunicates SSPX and Sedevacantists * * * Observers Wonder if Church Can Survive Total Loss of Membership (NOTZENIT) -- The world of the Roman Catholic faithful has been rocked by the death of John Paul II, who some observers say was holding the Church together with public-relations smoke and mirrors. Citing differences of doctrine, culture, and discipline, officials of the Society of St. Pius X have refused...

I was strolling through the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop when the news came over the television that a new pope had been chosen. I felt a chill go through me and followed an urge to leave the store before his name was announced. My reaction surprised me. It had been years since I'd felt bound by what came down from Rome, yet clearly what happened there still mattered to me. Hours later, when I heard the news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been chosen, my heart sank. Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was the head of the Congregation...

I'm disappointed. Well, as disappointed as a non-Roman Catholic can be. Not that I have anything against the new pope, Benedict XVI (in case you've been away from civilization for the past week, the 78-year-old German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday). The event was surrounded by such a potent mixture of mysticism and celebration that it was as if we were all Roman Catholics for a day. This is a circumstance that captivated (and annoyed) non-Catholics. Come on, not even a contentious U.S. national election or worldwide tragedy garnered more media...

Is nothing sacred in our time? London bookies, who will quote odds on which ant will spoil the first picnic of summer, have made Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan the favorite candidate for pope, going off at 5-2. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria was quoted at 11-4 when the clubhouse door closed, and Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras was put at 4-1. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, everybody's early favorite — i.e., the choice of the Vatican press pool — sank to 7-1 at post time. Click to learn more... But the press pool is even more irreverent....

VATICAN CITY — Smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel (search) chimney just before noon Tuesday — first emerging as gray but then turning darker — signaling that the cardinals had failed to choose a new pope for the second time. When the 115 voting cardinals do decide on a successor to Pope John Paul II (search), who died April 2 at age 84, the chimney will spew white smoke and bells will toll shortly afterward.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - From the shanty-covered hillsides of Tegucigalpa to the cosmopolitan streets of Buenos Aires and dusty villages in Africa, hopes had been high that the new pope would be someone intimately tied to the developing world and its challenges. Disappointment was evident when a German, Joseph Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — was chosen instead. "I would have liked someone different: younger, with new ideas and perhaps with darker skin like us," said Alfonso Mercado, an ice cream seller in Pereira, Colombia. Many in the city in Colombia's coffee-growing region hoped Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who preached...

A prophecy by a 12th-century Catholic saint that predicted characteristics of the last 112 popes appears to have been strengthened by the election of the new pontiff today. The prophecy labels the new pope "the Glory of the Olive." The Benedictine Order is known as the Olivetans and has as its symbol the olive branch. The new pope, though not of that order, chose as his name Benedict XVI.

London's Sunday Times would have us believe that one of the leading contenders for the papacy is a closet Nazi. In if-only-they-knew tones, the newspaper informs readers that German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth during World War II and suggests that, because of this, the "panzer cardinal" would be quite a contrast to his predecessor, John Paul II. The article also classifies Ratzinger as a "theological anti-Semite" for believing in Jesus so strongly that – gasp! – he thinks that everyone, even Jews, should accept him as the messiah. To all this we should say,...

CARDINAL RATZINGER: PROFILE To some, he is the Catholic Church's intellectual salvation during a time of confusion and compromise. To others, he is an intimidating "Enforcer", punishing liberal thinkers, and keeping the Church in the Middle Ages. Certainly, in the world's largest Christian community the Pope's prefect of doctrine, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, cannot be overlooked. Against dissent While many theologians strive for a Catholic Church that is more open and in touch with the world around it, Ratzinger's mission is to stamp out dissent, and curb the "wild excesses" of this more tolerant era. He wields the tools of his...

The College of Cardinals named German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be the next pope of the Catholic Church, ending the first papal conclave of the new millennium with surprising speed. The 78-year-old Cardinal Ratzinger, who took the papal name Benedict XVI, is known as the Vatican's watchdog for dogma. As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for many years, he staunchly defended orthodoxy in all areas of church life from liturgical translations to sex-abuse cases. The crowd in St. Peter's Square cheered at the announcement and applauded his appearance on the balcony from which by Chilean...

In 2003, after Episocpalian gay bishop Robinson was elected, a group of concerned Episcopalians and Anglicans met in emergency session, in Texas, to strategize how to respond -- through formally breaking away or other strategies.They received this letter from Rome: October 9, 2003 From Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger The Vatican, on behalf of Pope John Paul II I hasten to assure you of my heartfelt prayers for all those taking part in this convocation. The significance of your meeting is sensed far beyond Plano, and even in this City from which Saint Augustine of Canterbury was sent to confirm and strengthen...

With John Paul II’s death, speculation over his successor grows. Could Joseph Ratzinger be a coming German pope? Pope John Paul recent death has fueled speculation on who will be his successor. Although, officially, the Vatican cannot comment on the matter, insiders and observers are naming the major contenders. The Trumpet has pointed out many times over recent years that the pope to replace John Paul ii will be an arch-conservative and almost certainly the man to bring to fruition some of the most dreadful of end-time biblical prophecies. Our June 2002 issue stated of the next pope: Right wing...

Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany Is New Pope Europe - AP By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a hard-line guardian of conservative doctrine, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI and called himself "a simple, humble worker." Ratzinger, the first German pope since the 11th century, emerged onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where he waved to a wildly cheering crowd of tens of thousands and gave his first blessing as pope. Other cardinals clad in...

WE HAVE A POPE!!!

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Before the cardinals locked into the Sistine Chapel had a chance to cast their first ballot April 18, a group protesting the lack of women's voices in the conclave gathered outside Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago to send up billows of bright pink smoke along with prayers for women to be heard. The event featured statements from several organizations supporting the ordination of women that called on the church to open its doors fully to women's participation. "At a time when young women are sold into slavery around the world, when war brings the rape of women,...

VATICAN CITY - German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger defended Roman Catholic Church doctrine and condemned “the dictatorship of relativism” at Monday’s mass to pray for guidance in the election of the next pope.In his homily, Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals and a leading candidate for the papacy, said relativism “recognizes nothing definitive and its final measure is no more than ego and desire.”The 78-year-old cardinal pointed to “so many winds of doctrine that we have known in recent decades, so many ideological currents, so many ways of thinking,” including Marxism, liberalism, radical individualism, atheism and mysticism.He was speaking...

VATICAN CITY - Accusations of involvement in kidnappings of priests in Argentina dog one papal contender. "Revelations" about Nazi links surface about another top candidate. Gossipy items about health problems raise doubts about others. Like a U.S. presidential campaign, the run-up to the election of a pope has seen some dirty laundry hung out in public, and it's not the cardinals' red socks that are getting an airing. Among the "princes of the church" being targeted was German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, one of Pope John Paul II's most trusted aides and a man some Vatican watchers have put in pole...

The Conclave just started. The doors are shut.

VATICAN CITY — As soon as he says "yes" to being pope, the new head of the Roman Catholic Church (search) will make his first major decision: He'll choose a new name. The new pope will be free to pick from any of his 264 predecessors, use his own first name or come up with something new. Vatican-watchers will read the choice like tea leaves offering clues to the spirit of the new papacy. "If he chooses the name Pius XIII, it is a clear signal that he didn't like Vatican II and wants to move the church backwards," said...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Black smoke streamed from the Sistine Chapel's chimney Monday to signal that cardinals failed to select a new pope in their first round of voting, held just hours after they began their historic task: finding a leader capable of building on John Paul II's spiritual energy while keeping modern rifts from tearing deeper into the church. ``It seems white. ... No, no, it's black!'' reported Vatican Radio as the first pale wisps slipped out from the narrow pipe and then quickly darkened. As millions around the world watched on television, at least 40,000 people waited in...

The voting process has begun By John L. Allen, Jr. Rome Rather predictably, the first night of the 2005 conclave ended in puffs of black smoke. Though the cardinals are not obligated to hold a ballot on the first evening, historically it’s the pattern. The dean of the College of Cardinals, Joseph Ratzinger, was obligated to ask the cardinals if any of them had questions about the procedures to be followed under John Paul II’s document, Universi Dominici Gregis, but presumably by this point every question had been asked and answered a half-dozen times. Hence the cardinals opted to proceed...

Evangelical Protestants pray that the next pope will be in their biblical corner. First, they pray he will be the defender of babies in the womb. In being that defender, he will forcefully speak out against those who murder infants in females’ bodies. And he will state such forthrightly, in no uncertain terms, just as Pope John Paul II held such convictions. Second, evangelicals pray that the next pope will defend the culture of life by opposing euthanasia. That oft soft-pedaled issue cannot afford to be sidelined by both evangelical Protestants and the Vatican; therefore, it is prayed that the...

The College of Cardinals meets today to pick the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Because John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, speculation is high that church fathers may break new ground again -- perhaps by picking a non-European, an African or the first Latin American to be pope. The media constantly states that the only certainty is that this supposedly conservative college will pick a conservative pope. This prediction is unlikely because the cardinals are actually very liberal.

Few know Vatican politics better than Ray Flynn, the former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. In an exclusive interview with NewsMax from Rome, Flynn says there will be an African or Latin American Pope someday – but the time is not now. Flynn thinks the cardinals – many of whom he knows on a first name basis – will choose Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope. Flynn, a close friend of the late John Paul II, told NewsMax the German Ratzinger was one of the cardinals closest to the late Pontiff, has the exact qualifications the times call...

Black smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel's chimney Monday evening, signaling that the cardinals sequestered inside for the first papal conclave of the new millennium failed to elect a new pope.

Will Justin Rigali emerge as the "consensus candidate" in the College of Cardinals? Think about it: He's an Italian-American. He is a distinquished Vatican insider. He is originally from Los Angeles, the largest Hispanic diocese in North America. He was a talented Arch-Bishop in middle-America (St. Louis), and now is the Cardinal of Philadelphia.How much more qualified does a man need to be?Will Justin Rigali emerge as the "consensus candidate" in the College of Cardinals?Could the Italian bloc of Cardinals see in him a sympathetic "Italian" heritage candidate? Could the Vatican insiders see in him an experienced world diplomat? Could...

The Sunday Times - World April 17, 2005 Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth Justin Sparks, Munich, John Follain and Christopher Morgan, Rome THE wartime past of a leading German contender to succeed John Paul II may return to haunt him as cardinals begin voting in the Sistine Chapel tomorrow to choose a new leader for 1 billion Catholics. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whose strong defence of Catholic orthodoxy has earned him a variety of sobriquets — including “the enforcer”, “the panzer cardinal” and “God’s rottweiler” — is expected to poll around 40 votes in the first ballot as conservatives...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Roman Catholic cardinals started to move into sequestered lodgings Sunday ahead of a momentousconclave to elect the successor to Pope John Paul II. The 115 eligible cardinals will enter the secretive conclave in the Sistine Chapel Monday with no clear favorite to take over the reins of the 1.1 billion-member Church. Some of the red-hatted "princes of the church" held publicMasses around a rainswept Rome Sunday, refusing to speculate on the vote and underlining the spiritual nature of their quest. "People think that we are going to vote like in an election. But this is something...

CARDINAL WHO WARNED OF 'ANTICHRIST' RISES IN BETTING ODDS Though Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi is the odds-on favorite to be the next pope, global betting parlors are reporting an influx of bets on Cardinal Giacomo Biffi. "From what I can see here, there's been a lot of wagers on Biffi," Mani Sanders of Pinnacle Sports, an online gambling service based on the resort island in the Netherlands Antilles, told the Providence Journal. Cardinal Biffi, emeritus bishop of the archdiocese of Bologna, was recently listed as a 125-to-1 long shot to succeed John Paul II. But does Pinnacle know something we don't?...

Rome -- One-hundred-and-fifteen men will lock themselves into the Sistine Chapel on Monday afternoon, gaze up at the magnificent ceiling fresco of Michelangelo, and start to pray for the collective wisdom to choose the next Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. In a matter of days, one of them will emerge as the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics and, according to Catholic doctrine, the successor not only to Pope John Paul II but to Saint Peter the Apostle. "The legacy is incredible. We are at such an important point in the history of the church," said the...

ROME, April 16 - There was never doubt that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's hard-line defender of the faith, would have a strong hand in selecting the next pope. But in the days of prayer and politics before the conclave, which begins on Monday, he has emerged as perhaps the surprise central figure: the man who could become the 265th pope, choose him or be the one other cardinals knock from the running. Any talk of who will become the next pope is guesswork, echoes from cardinals and their staffs sworn to silence about one of the world's most elite...

VATICAN CITY - The worldwide outpouring of affection for Pope John Paul II may have convinced the cardinals choosing his successor that today's Roman Catholic Church has no room for a so-called "transitional" leader. The profile of a pope who knows how to communicate and to bridge cultural and religious divides fits a number of the 115 cardinals assembling in the conclave that begins Monday. Those contenders include Brazil's Claudio Hummes, Argentina's Jorge Bergoglio and Austria's Christoph Schoenborn. Both Hummes, 70, and Bergoglio, 68, have been highly visible advocates for the poor, questioning the benefits of globalization and free-market policies....

It begins with a vow of secrecy and ends with the words: "I accept." What happens in between will never fully be known except by the 115 cardinals who will enter the Sistine Chapel tomorrow, pray for divine guidance and then shut themselves off from the world until they choose a pontiff. We should have an answer by Friday. No conclave in the past century has lasted more than five days. The 1978 election of John Paul II took eight ballots over three days. On the eve of the conclave, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has emerged as the favorite....

<p>Never having been made a cardinal, retired Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco will not be participating in the conclave that will elect a successor to Pope John Paul II. But the 76-year-old Quinn thinks that some of the electors could literally take a page from his book in choosing the next pope.</p>

Vatican City — Canada's Marc Cardinal Ouellet used his Sunday homily to rebuke Catholic political operatives who are spreading nasty rumours about his fellow cardinals in the mud-spattered papal election campaign. In his final public statement before the secret election begins Monday, Cardinal Ouellet reminded Roman Catholics that the conclave was supposed to be above the crass politics of the secular world. “The choice the cardinals are making is not a political act based on some human calculation,” Cardinal Ouellet told parishioners at the Holy Mary in Transpontina church near St. Peter's Square. “It's an act of faith, and profound...

CATHOLIC cardinals have destroyed the late Pope John Paul II's ring and seal in a symbolic end to his authority before secluding themselves from the world to elect his successor. The cardinals will begin their conclave this week, and the Vatican said smoke signals would pour from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel twice a day to tell the world whether or not a new pope had been elected. Overnight, the cardinals watched an ancient ritual marking the transition between two popes - the destruction of John Paul's Fisherman's Ring and his lead seal, two symbols of his authority. During...

ONITSHA, Nigeria -- The legend of Cardinal Francis Arinze, a contender to become the first pope from Africa in 1,500 years, stems from a moment of crisis in Nigeria's Catholic heartland. It was the early 1970s, and the government had ordered all European and American priests -- most of the Catholic leadership at the time -- out of the country. The political purge left Arinze and a handful of Nigerian priests with a massive job and few resources to do it, church leaders here said. But Arinze, the first African-born archbishop in this grubby trading center on the Niger River,...

For all the guessing that has been invested in who Pope John Paul II's successor will be, only one thing can be said for sure: When it comes to papal elections, there is no such thing as a sure thing.      Only three of the last 20 popes have gone into the conclave as favorites, according to the Rev. James Weiss, an Episcopal priest and associate professor of church history at Boston College. And this time, there is no favorite.      Historically, no one who has been openly critical of the Vatican administration has also been elected, Weiss said, because the...

Rome, April 11 (Reuters): Maybe it describes the colour of his skin or place of birth. But the next Pope will be the “Olive” Pope, according to a 12th century prophecy that foresees just two remaining pontificates before the end of the world. The often-cited — and contested — prediction is attributed to St Malachy, an Irish archbishop recognised by members of the church for his ability to read the future and who was canonised more than 800 years ago. St Malachy was said to have had a vision during a trip to Rome around 1139 of the remaining 112...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The first message a new pope sends to the world is encoded in the name he chooses. If Roman Catholicism's next leader calls himself John Paul III, that would signal continuity. "John" would connote a gentle father while "Pius" could herald an era of deep conservatism. A name from the distant papal past -- improbable ones like Zephyrinus, Hilarus or Formosus -- would send Catholics scurrying to their history books to see what it could mean. The maxim "Nomen est omen" (Latin for "a name is a sign") is as valid today for popes as it...

NEW YORK - Roman Catholic gay-rights activists don't expect a new pope to suddenly scrap the church's condemnation of homosexuality, but they do hope - cautiously - for a softening of stern Vatican rhetoric and an acceleration of grass-roots moves in some U.S. parishes to make them feel more welcome. "We're realists - we're not going to have someone running out of this conclave as pope and all of sudden everything is perfect," said Sam Sinnett, president of the national gay Catholic organization Dignity USA. "We do hope there will be a little more listening, and an end to the...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The worldwide outpouring of affection for Pope John Paul II may have convinced the cardinals choosing his successor that today's Roman Catholic Church has no room for a so-called "transitional" leader. The profile of a pope who knows how to communicate and to bridge cultural and religious divides fits a number of the 115 cardinals assembling in the conclave that begins Monday. Those contenders include Brazil's Claudio Hummes, Argentina's Jorge Bergoglio and Austria's Christoph Schoenborn. Both Hummes, 70, and Bergoglio, 68, have been highly visible advocates for the poor, questioning the benefits of globalization and free-market...

ROMA, April 14, 2005 – On Tuesday, April 19, the first full day of the conclave which will elect the new pope, the feast in the calendar of the Roman Church is that of Saint Leo IX. He was pope between 1049 and 1054. He was a standard bearer of the great “Papal Revolution” which, at the beginning of the second millennium, between the 11th and 12th centuries, refashioned the Church and the West. He was German. And the indisputable front runner in this conclave at the beginning of the third millennium is also German – but above all, he...

I am on the mailing list of several Islamic publications and almost without exception there was veritable glee over the liberal hue and cry from leftists for a more liberal pope. If you read between the lines, you can very clearly see what these Islamics are hoping for: more moral decay in the already evil and decadent West. This evilness would then be used as the reason for the mass slaughter that lies ahead. Allah has demanded that the evil and sinful Christians be sent to the fires of hell and if Islamics are convinced that all Christians are evil,...

The election of a new pope always highlights political tensions and theological differences between cardinals - and this time they are as sharp as ever. Even Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's watchdog on doctrine, has challenged the pious belief that the elections are the work of the Holy Spirit. In a 1997 interview he pointed out that "there are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit would not have picked". Instead, the Holy Spirit offered gentle guidance. The College of Cardinals can be divided into conservatives and liberals. But within this there are many shades of opinion. Here...

VATICAN CITY - After two decades of contact and dialogue with the Islamic world under Pope John Paul II, the Vatican is rethinking an outreach program that critics say is diluting Catholicism and has brought almost no benefits to beleaguered Catholic minorities in Muslim countries. (snip) Hanging over the church's deliberations, Vatican officials said, was whether to view Islam as a collaborator in combating secularism or a religious rival.

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Just days before Roman Catholic cardinals select a new pope, a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against an Argentine mentioned as a possible contender, accusing him of involvement in the 1976 kidnappings of two priests. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio's spokesman on Saturday called the allegation "old slander." The complaint filed in a Buenos Aires court Friday by human rights lawyer Marcelo Parrilli accused Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, of involvement in the kidnappings of two Jesuit priests by the military dictatorship, according to the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarin. The complaint does not specify Bergoglio's...

VATICAN CITY, April 15 - For 455 years, the papacy passed uninterrupted from one Italian to another until the election of the Polish pope, John Paul II. Now, after 26 years, many Italians think it is time to get back in office - for fear that changes in the Roman Catholic Church may close the door on them for good. As 115 cardinals from 52 countries prepare to enter a conclave on Monday to select the next pope, some Vatican historians believe that the election of another foreigner will conclude a historic shift of power away from Italy. According to...