Ratzinger was JP's secretary, and as the tradition holds, he deep-sixed his own feelings to become his Pope's champion mud-wrestler. However, he is not a carbon copy of JP, he is Old School to the bone, and entertains the same scriptural literalism that has caused catholics to view jews as unsaved for failing to acknowledge jesus as savior, that has been the fundamental driving reason foruu anti-jewish preachings since time out of mind, and I have every confidence that that will be manifesting itself shortly. He has been pressed on this point, and made it perfectly clear that he will not follow JP's half-blazed trail on this subject.
Why would thoughtful Jewish people like Dennis Prager and Michael Medved hold him in such high esteem?
Because there aren't familiar with his track record prior to assuming the Secretariat?
Go ask your local catholic priest if any orthodox jews can be counted amongst the saved yet--since they don't acknowledge jesus as savior--according to church teachings. For all of JP's virtue, that wasn't a hurdle he could clear, and certainly Ratzinger isn't going to either. All this sonorous feel-good talk of the brotherhood of jews and christians can vanish with the next turn of of civilization's screws, but the this doctrinally fundamental reason catholic clergy preached against jews will never go away unless the church makes it go away--and thinking that that's happening under JP and Ratzinger is wishful thinking, exacerbated by mistaking headlines with glamor shots for important news, which jewish intellectuals are just as good at as anyone else.
"scriptural literalism"?
Catholicism buys into Biblical inerrancy, not literalism. Literalism was used by the Manichaeans as a strawman interpretation of scripture to make it easier to attack; Augustine recognized it as a strawman when he became a Christian.
So it's pretty unlikely any orthodox Catholic would be a Biblical literalist, especially not one "old school to the bone".
According to Rabbi David Rosen, as Cardinal, he "affirmed the Jewish people's special status as "elder brother"... giving them a "unique place among all other religions," declaring that "the Jewish messianic expectation is not in vain."
Not sure what Ratzinger meant by that, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean "Jews suck."
If you ever read the stuff written by Americans who have known him like First Things, it's about as pro-Jewish, pro Israel as you get this side of Commentary Magazine.
Shouldn't you wait for some sign that he was lying as a Cardinal before you condemn him now that he's Pope?