Habemus Problem

Chalk up another victory to the "dark side" of the far right - they've now got a Pope (Benedict, apparently, though he'll always be Ratzinger to me) to go along with their American administration (and, soon, the American Supreme Court, which Bush will stack with like-thinkers just as J2P2 did his Council of Cardinals.)

So much for the Catholic church making a giant leap for mankind; instead they've chosen a man who will even more firmly root them in the 19th (yes, I meant 19th) century. Witness: Yahoo says Ratzinger has made clear in recent speeches that he will brook no dissent and will block debate on issues such as women priests, priestly celibacy, abortion and homosexuality. While this former Hitler Youth was unenthusiastic in military service, he seems to enjoy authoritarianism in its religious and political forms, at least. Call him The Calcitrant Pope.

Happily, his election seems to be something of a death knell for "Old Europe"-an and liberal American Catholicism. Disappointment from some of these in the crowd at St Peter's has gotten a decent amount of ink. Some of my favourite quotes:

"We consider the election of Ratzinger as a catastrophe," said Bernd Goehring of German ecumenical group Kirche von Unten. "It is very disappointing, even if it was predictable. We can expect no reform from him in the coming years..."

"It's a historic moment, but a very sad one. He is even more conservative than John Paul II. All he knows how to do is condemn, condemn, condemn," said Agusti Capdevila from Barcelona...

"This is the guy who's been in charge of stifling dissent in the church," said lawyer Carmen Durso, who represented dozens of plaintiffs in clergy abuse lawsuits against the Boston archdiocese...

A Vatican apologist was interviewed by the BBC the night John Paul died - I had a good laugh at his earnest assertion that the death notice's being sent by email was a great example of the church's modernity. I think a more effective symbol will be a graph of Africa's AIDS toll during the next few years of this new pontificate.