I know what you mean...whenever I read a news release coming from the Vatican, I would scan it first to see if Ratzinger's name was there and what his opinion was. If HE liked it, I knew it MUST be good.
Exactly! My whole family does the same thing. He's to the Church what Rick Santorum is to the Senate (i.e. in the case of both men we find ourselves saying over and over, "Oh thank God he's there to offer some direction!"