German cardinal elected new pope
Joseph Ratzinger will be Pope Benedict
XVI
List
of all 265 Popes from St. Peter to Pope Benedict XVI More details in the “Wikipedia
Encyclopedia”.
THE 265th POPE - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of
Germany has been elected by the conclave of cardinals to succeed John Paul
II. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI.
VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has
been selected by the Roman Catholic church as the new pope.
The conclave of 115
cardinals had voted three times previously -- once Monday night and twice
Tuesday morning -- before selecting the new pope. The cardinals'
morning ballots were burned at about 11:50 a.m. (5:50 a.m. EDT). Chemicals are added
to the ballots to turn the smoke white or black. Pope John Paul II,
who died April 2 at age 84, had decreed that white smoke be accompanied by
the ringing of bells, to avoid a repeat of the confusion after his election
in 1978. Ratzinger needed
two-thirds of the votes to be selected. Speculation rife
There has been a
great deal of speculation about who may be chosen to succeed John Paul II,
who died April 2 at the age of 84, but cardinals have been mum. Some taking part in
the conclave said they are looking for a leader who presents a hopeful
vision, who can "generate some dynamism and some optimism within
Catholicism," CNN Vatican analyst John Allen said. The first clues to
the process of finding a successor were sought during the homily or sermon
delivered by Ratzinger at Monday's public Mass. "Having a
clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a
fundamentalism," Ratzinger said. Allen said
Ratzinger delivered a "very blunt" message for the church to
"stay true to itself." That was a strong
indication that Ratzinger, 78, wants a "traditionalist" elected the
next pope, Allen said. John Paul was widely
credited with extending the reach of the papacy. He spoke more than a dozen
languages and set an unprecedented pattern of pastoral travel, drawing huge
crowds all over the world. He was also
strictly traditional on issues of sexuality and the role of women in the
church, which won him support among some Catholics but alienated others.
Similar disagreement exists over the next pontiff's stances on issues such as
birth control, stem cell research and the ordination of female priests. Find this article at: CNN.com Biographical notes
Four years later, he qualified as a university teacher. He then
taught dogma and fundamental theology at the higher school of philosophy and
theology of Freising, then in Bonn from 1959 to 1969, Munster from 1963 to
1966, Tubinga from 1966 to 1969. From 1969, he was a professor of dogmatic theology and of the
history of dogma at the University of Regensburg and Vice President of the
same university. Already in 1962 he was well known when, at the age of 35, he
became a consultor at Vatican Council II, of the Archbishop of Cologne,
Cardinal Joseph Frings. Among his numerous publications, a particular post
belongs to the “Introduction to Christianity”, a collection of university
lessons on the profession of apostolic faith, published in 1968; Dogma and
revelation, an anthology of essays, sermons and reflections dedicated to the
pastoral ministry, published in 1973. In March 1977, Paul VI elected him Archbishop of Munich and
Freising and on 28 May 1977 he was consecrated, the first diocesan priest
after 80 years to take over the pastoral ministry of this large Bavarian
diocese. Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Paul VI in the
consistory of 27 June 1977. Titular churches, suburbicarian see of
Velletri-Segni (5 April 1993) and suburbicarian see of Ostia (30 November
2002). On 25 November 1981 he was nominated by John Paul II Prefect of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; President of the Biblical
Commission and of the Pontifical International Theological Commission. Relator of the 5th General Assembly of the Synod of
Bishops (1980). President Delegate to the 6th Synodal Assembly
(1983). Elected Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals, 6 November
1998. On 30 November 2002, the Holy Father approved the election, by
the order of cardinal bishops, as Dean of the College of Cardinals. President of the Commission for the Preparation of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, and after 6 years of work (1986-92) he
presented the New Catechism to the Holy Father. Laurea honoris causa in jurisprudence from the Libera
Universite Maria Santissima Assunta, 10 November 1999. Honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 13
November 2000. Curial Membership: ·
Secretariat of State (second section) ·
Oriental Churches, Divine Worship and Sacraments,
Bishops, Evangelization of Peoples, Catholic Education (congregations) ·
Christian Unity, Culture (councils)
German Cardinal Ratzinger
Elected Pope Benedict XVI April 19 (Bloomberg)
-- German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who worked closely with John Paul II in
enforcing church doctrine for much of the past quarter-century, was elected
pope to lead the world's 1 billion Catholics. He chose the name Benedict XVI.
The 78-year-old
pontiff was introduced about an hour after the white smoke wafted from the
chimney of the Sistine Chapel to signal the election of the 265th pope.
Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez of Chile, the senior cardinal deacon, stepped
onto the balcony above the main doors of St. Peter's Basilica and announced
``Habemus Papam'' -- ``We have a pope!'' Benedict XVI then
blessed the crowd in Italian, one of the 10 languages he speaks, and told the
thousands of people in St. Peter's Square, ``Dear brothers and sisters, after
the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me -- a simple,
humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.'' The pontiff was a
close associate of the late pontiff, and helped him craft and enforce church
theology since 1981, when he was appointed head of the Congregation of the
Doctrine of the Faith. His fellow 114 cardinals needed only 2 days and 4
ballots to reach the two-thirds majority needed to become the successor to
John Paul II, who died April 2 at the age of 84. Friend's
Funeral One of his final
acts as a cardinal was to celebrate the funeral Mass for John Paul at St.
Peter's, which was followed by millions of mourners around the globe. His
homily centered on the life of the late pontiff who, he said, ``gave of
himself to the very end.'' Where John Paul was a sunny, optimistic leader,
Ratzinger has said the church has much to fear. In his homily at
the special mass that started the conclave's secret voting April 18, the new
pontiff told the cardinals not to stray from John Paul II's orthodoxy. He
said the Church was at risk of a ``dictatorship of relativism,'' the belief
that there is no single truth, and urged his fellow cardinals not to give in
to calls for change. ``He has been a
point of reference my whole intellectual life,'' said Rocco Buttiglione
president of the Union of Christian Democrats in Italy and former minister of
European Union affairs, who has know Ratzinger since 1972 and was in St.
Peter's Square for the announcement. ``He was a great collaborator of John
Paul. He will continue in his spirit even if the two men have very different
characters.'' Catholic
Superiority Ratzinger has faced
opposition among German Catholics for his stand on issues such as birth control,
celibacy and women's role in the church. As a young priest he espoused
progressive ideas on theological debates, until the student revolutions of
1968 instilled a distrust of the left in him that caused him to shift to a
orthodox stance. In 2002, Ratzinger
wrote a document called ``Dominus Jesus'' in which he asserted the
superiority of the Catholic Church over other Christian Churches. Ratzinger played a
role in ousting priests including Leonardo Boff and Eugen Drewermann from
their offices for not following Catholic policy. He also confirmed a ban on
German priest Gotthold Hasenhuettl for holding a joint communion service with
Protestants at an event in Berlin two years ago after John Paul II had voiced
his disapproval. Ratzinger was born
April 16, 1927, in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn. He studied philosophy
and theology in Munich and Freising, where he was ordained in 1951. He taught
at the universities of Bonn, Muenster, Tuebingen and Regensburg. Traditional
Approach Ratzinger was considered
a liberal thinker for taking a democratic approach on the church that
involved focusing on worshippers rather than on the institution. He began to
favor a more traditional approach after he became archbishop of Munich in
March 1977 and cardinal three months later. ``By then he had
become a high representative of the Catholic Church and began to take on
hierarchical views favored by the Vatican,'' said Magdalene Bussmann, a
German theologian, in an interview. ``Ratzinger is a
very different man from Pope John Paul even if he was his chief theologian
and very close to him,'' Bussmann said. ``He's very academic. He won't be a
man of the masses, not a touchy-feely sort of pope.'' From: Bloomberg.com New conservative pope Ratzinger a favorite son in Alpine hills of
Bavaria TRAUNSTEIN, Germany - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger alienated some
Roman Catholics in Germany with his zeal enforcing church orthodoxy. But in
the conservative Alpine foothills of Bavaria where he grew up, he remains a
favorite son who many think will make a good pope. Ratzinger, a rigorously conservative guardian of doctrinal
orthodoxy who turned 78 on Saturday and was chosen the Catholic Church’s
265th pontiff Tuesday, went into the Vatican conclave a leading candidate to
succeed Pope John Paul II. “Only someone who knows tradition is able to shape the future,”
said the Rev. Thomas Frauenlob, who heads the seminary in Traunstein where
Ratzinger studied and regularly returns to visit. Clashes with fellow Germans
Many blame Ratzinger for decrees from Rome barring Catholic
priests from counseling pregnant teens on their options and blocking German
Catholics from sharing communion with their Lutheran brethren at a joint
gathering in 2003. Ratzinger has clashed with prominent theologians at home, most
notably the liberal Hans Kueng, who helped him get a teaching post at the
University of Tuebingen in the 1960s. The cardinal later publicly criticized
Kueng, whose license to teach theology was revoked by the Vatican in 1979. 'He always stood on his principle'
“He has hurt many people and far overstepped his boundaries in
Germany,” said Christian Wiesner, spokesman for the pro-reform Wir Sind
Kirche, or We Are Church movement. Ratzinger himself, in his autobiography, sensed he was out of
step with his fellow Germans as early as the 1960s, when he was a young
assistant at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. Returning to Germany between sessions, “I found the mood in the
church and among theologians to be agitated,” he wrote. “More and more there
was the impression that nothing stood fast in the church, that everything was
up for revision.” Ratzinger left Tuebingen during student protests in the late
1960s and moved to the more conservative University of Regensburg in his home
state of Bavaria. Catholics and Protestants each account for about 34 percent of
the German population, but Bavaria is one of the more heavily Catholic areas. “What Wadowice was for John Paul, Bavaria is for Ratzinger,” said
Frauenlob, referring to John Paul II’s hometown in southern Poland. “He has
very deep roots here, it’s his home.” Son of a policeman
He and his older brother, Georg — former director of the renowned
Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir — return annually to the peaceful halls of
St. Michael’s Seminary to stay in the elegant, but sparsely furnished
bishop’s apartment next to the church. An accomplished pianist who loves Mozart, Ratzinger enjoys
playing the grand piano in the seminary’s main hall, and walking through
downtown Traunstein greeting people, Frauenlob said. Traunstein was also where Ratzinger went through the harrowing
years of Nazi rule and World War II. In 1943, he was drafted as an assistant
to a Nazi anti-aircraft unit and sent to Munich. A year later he was released,
only to be sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to construct tank barriers. Briefly held by Americans as POW
When he arrived home, U.S. soldiers took him prisoner and held
him in a POW camp for several weeks. Upon his release, he re-entered the
seminary. Ratzinger was ordained, along with his brother, in 1951. He then
spent several years teaching theology. In 1977, he was appointed bishop of
Munich and elevated to cardinal three months later by Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II named him leader of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith in 1981, where he was responsible for enforcing
Catholic orthodoxy and was one of the key men in the drive to shore up the
faith of the world’s Roman Catholics. Called a subtle thinker
Frauenlob calls him a subtle thinker with a deep understanding of
Catholic tradition and a personal touch he’s not often given credit for. He cites the example of the seminary’s 2003 confirmation service
where no bishop was available. Ratzinger swiftly agreed to come, confirming
the 14 boys, then taking time to speak personally to each one after the
ceremony. “I find it hurtful to see him described as a hard-liner,”
Frauenlob said. “People are too quick to say that, it’s not an accurate
reflection of his personality.” |
Back
to: Viata Crestina