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Frankly, this is a slap in the face (and of course, slap in the other face immediately follows) to the Catholics (hack, how about everyone) in the non-white parts of the world. Now, even though the two candidates from Latin America and Africa are quite conservative, at least it will be a good gesture towards the continents they represent. But they blew it, and there ain't nothin' we can do about that...

Disappointment: YES, Lose sleep and meal over it: NO! Because last I checked, I'm not Catholic.

I know this is rather long, but worth reading and thinking about... It's from AP and I found it on my local TV station site (king5.com):

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.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger holds a candle as he celebrates an Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on March 26, 2005.
But opinion about him remains deeply divided in Germany, a sharp contrast to John Paul, who was revered in his native Poland. A recent poll for Der Spiegel news weekly said Germans opposed to Ratzinger becoming pope outnumbered supporters 36 percent to 29 percent, with 17 percent having no preference. The poll of 1,000 people, taken April 5-7, gave no margin of error.
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 The cardinal later publicly criticized Kueng, whose license to teach theology was revoked by the Vatican in 1979.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 has also sparred openly in articles with fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a moderate who has urged less centralized church governance and is considered a dark horse papal candidate.
"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...

And on top of everything, dude, he was a Nazi, man!! Okay, I know, people can change, and it was under complicated circumstances. But dude, did they ever consider the symbolism, or whatever, of having such a guy (duh!) be the head of the Catholic church? What the hell, man...

Kevin, not all who fought in the german army were Nazi's. I beleieve he was a conscript. Read the article at the link.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1334-2005Apr19.html

And educate yourself so you don't throw around sensational arguments that you really can't back up.

I'm (shudder) inclined to agree with Mike here. He was by all accounts a completely unenthusiastic member of the German Army, and claims he never fired a shot. That could very well be true. He was also a member of the Hitler Youth, though the story is that he joined only after membership became compulsory.

This guy is very conservative, divisive, and certainly I don't expect I'd agree with him on anything, but I'd stop short of calling him a Nazi.

25 years... I don't think so... the Rat-man is nearly 80. We'll have another Popus Maximus before 2010 - any bets?

Read my comment again... I'm talking about the "look" and the symbolism of it, not the actual fact that he was involved with the Nazis. The latter is less relevant to the present and the future than the former.

Sure, from a certain perspective it looks bad, but you could also argue that he shouldn't be condemned for what could amount to an accident of birth.

Personally, of course, I'm offended by the look and symbolism of the whole religion to begin with. With this guy, though, it's his staunch conservativism and what that could mean for the direction of the church that I think many people are justly concerned about more than what he may symbolize. That being said, the symbolic impact of selecting, say, a black pope, would have been much more positive.

"The symbolic impact of selecting, say, a black pope, would have been much more positive."

Very true, would have been very positive for the church. Fortunately, they didn't think of that.

Heh... Yeah, I was really pulling for the black guy. It would have been hilarious to watch all the racist Catholics around the world get driven out of the shadows.

Seriously, if it's not Africa's "turn," (which I can't think of the reason why not!) it should have been Latin America, or South America, and may be even the Philippines. But of course, they blew it...

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