[Marxism] Ratzinger elected pope: rightist and disciplinarian in hierarchy spectrum

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Benedict XVI: German cardinal elected pope
'I entrust myself to your prayers,' he tells crowd

BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 2:10 p.m. ET April 19, 2005


VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a hard-line
guardian of conservative doctrine, was elected the new pope Tuesday
evening in the first conclave of the new millennium. He chose the name
Pope Benedict XVI and called himself "a simple, humble worker."

An Inauguration Mass for the new pope was set for Sunday at 10 a.m.

Ratzinger, the first German pope since the 11th century, emerged onto
the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where he waved to a wildly cheering
crowd of tens of thousands and gave his first blessing as the church's
265th pope. Other cardinals clad in their crimson robes came out on
other balconies to watch him.

"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," he said. "I entrust myself to your prayers," the pope said.

"The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means
consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers," the new
pope said in his first public address. "I entrust myself to your
prayers."

The crowd responded by chanting "Benedict! Benedict!"


If the new pope was paying tribute to the last pontiff of that name, it
could be interpreted as a bid to soften his image as the Vatican's
doctrinal hard-liner. Benedict XV, who reigned from 1914 to 1922, was a
moderate following Pius X, who had implemented a sharp crackdown against
doctrinal "modernism."

On Monday, Ratzinger, who was the powerful dean of the College of
Cardinals, used his homily at the Mass dedicated to electing the next
pope to warn the faithful about tendencies that he considered dangers to
the faith: sects, ideologies like Marxism, liberalism, atheism,
agnosticism and relativism - the ideology that there are no absolute
truths.

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often
labeled today as a fundamentalism," he said, speaking in Italian. "We
are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism, which does not
recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own
ego and one's own desires."

Disciplined church dissidents
Ratzinger served John Paul II since 1981 as head of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he has disciplined church
dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for
reforms. He turned 78 on Saturday.
[snip]


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