I left the house on the day he was elected and by the time I got to the church the smoke had gone up. We have a very liberal nun who works in the office and she was horrified when he was elected. I had to leave the room to go do my cheerleading routine. LOL
I'm not claiming any insight but as I said there is something beautiful in his countenance, a beauty put there by a complete trust in God, I think.
We had someone driving around our church parking lot screaming "Ratzinger's infallible baby!"
He is a great pope. But more importantly, he is a good man.
Not only him but in the Cardinal electors as well. Just before the conclave, EWTN had an interview with a few of the electors. One was saying how distraught he had been, how he couldn't imagine anyone taking JP2's place. Then he decided to pray before the Blessed Sacrament about for whom he should vote. The answer came to him in an obvious way. They of course didn't tell EWTN for whom they were going to vote, but they were beaming like they were very pleased and excited with what the Holy Spirit was guiding them to do.