The Burr in the Burgh

After less than two days of deliberation, the Roman College of Cardinals surprised no one by choosing Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a German, as the new Pontiff. Now he will be known as Pope Benedict XVI.

I think this tells us a great deal about the future direction and current leadership of the Roman Catholic church. If I'm not mistaken, a super-majority of 2/3 plus 1 was required. That a scholarly traditionalist, much like his predecessor, should be so quickly chosen might indicate how conservative the College of Cardinals really is.

Pope Benedict XVI just celebrated his birthday a few days ago. He is 78 which means the College chose a man who will not reign for nearly as long as John Paul II. For the past 20+ years, Ratzinger had been the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an organization once known as the Inquisition. And he was definitely a hardliner in that role.

Obviously, my personal preference would have been for the College of Cardinals to elect a good solid Lutheran as their head (wink), but since that was never going to happen, Ratzinger is, in my evaluation, as good a man as any.

Sadly, under his watch, it will be very unlikely that any of the substantive differences between Rome and the Reformation will be resolved. But I am at least grateful that this new pope, like the one before him, will champion many critical principles of a historic Christian worldview against post-modern relativism. For instance, we can expect him to be an advocate and defender of the culture of life. In fact, I suspect very little will change under Benedict XVI.

Here is the text of the first public words spoken by Pope Benedict XVI.