Posted on 04/20/2005 7:10:00 PM PDT by ConservativeStLouisGuy
For those wondering what the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI will be like, a good start can be found in what he had to say as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger just two days ago.
Before heading into the papal conclave with his fellow cardinals to select the new head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, Cardinal Ratzinger, who was John Paul II's theological enforcer, urged Catholics to hold fast to church tradition.
"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labelled today as a fundamentalism," he said, "whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.
"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism, which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goals one's own ego and one's own desires."
Obviously, liberal Catholics, secular humanists and moral relativists will be disappointed by Cardinal Ratzinger's selection as Bishop of Rome and 264th successor of St. Peter.
That said, his quick election by the College of Cardinals, one of the fastest in history, is no surprise. Indeed, Cardinal Ratzinger was identified by Vatican watchers as the frontrunner to succeed John Paul II from the moment of the latter's death.
The first German to be named Pope in almost 1,000 years, he is also John Paul's clear theological successor. Both men shared a strongly conservative and traditional view of Catholic doctrine.
In addition, all but a handful of the members of the current College of Cardinals were appointed by John Paul, so it's hardly shocking they would elect a Pope who shares his theology.
The media referred to Cardinal Ratzinger as the Church's "enforcer" and indeed, since 1981, he has headed the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is, literally, the body that enforces obedience to Roman Catholic doctrine.
In that role, Cardinal Ratzinger was, of course, criticized by all the usual suspects for his denunciations of homosexuality, gay marriage, radical feminism, Marxism, liberation theology and for his descriptions of other Christian denominations as being deficient.
Liberal Catholics, and others, who want the church to end its prohibitions against artificial birth control and female priests, and to allow priests to marry, will also be highly critical of his selection as pope.
But while Pope Benedict XVI's theological views, like John Paul II's before him, may be unpo7pular in the modern era, the Pope's most important task is not to be popular, but to defend and preserve the faith. And on that all-important front, Pope Benedict XVI appears more than ready for the challenge.
And another thing...
Paul Martin finally delivered his foreign policy review yesterday -- a collection of past motherhood statements by Martin on Canada's place in the world, plus yet another promise to rebuild the military. No wonder they call him "Mr. Dithers."
This pic. and headline don't bother me in the least and I am a practicing Catholic. Let's pray that he truly is God's Rottweiler! Now that the media do not have to cave to the sensitivities of the masses of people who obviously LOVED John Paul the Great, they will strike this man mercilessly. We who love the Christian values should pray much for him.
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