en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cardinal_Ratzinger
Wikipedia was updated within seconds of the announcement. Word on the street is that based on his age and chosen name, he doesn’t expect to be Pope long.
Goddamn new pope preempted a piece on string theory on CBC’s The Current this morning, for more breathless commentary on how this is some landmark in the human struggle. He’s already on my shitlist, this guy better have one hell of a game plan to get back on my good side.
awwwwww shit. same old same old. at least he’s got that new pope smell.
string theory 
Does that have to do with everything being connected as ONE???
Apparently a former member of the Hitler Youth?
So much for getting a progressive, less conservative pope. This one seems to be more orthodox than the previous one. No women priests for another 20 years and no condoms for AIDS exposed catholics.
Seems that even the experts didn’t see this one as pope:
[quote=“BigThumb, in a previous thread,”]MiG wrote:
timbits wrote:
Yeah he was decent… but i bet the next pope is Italian
My bet is Brazilian, Filipino or African.
Quote:
John Allen, the Roman correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter, is an astute observer with good sources. Here is his Top Ten list (in alphabetical order, not in order of electability):
- Francis Arinze (Nigeria, 11/1/32), prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship
- Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Argentina, 12/17/36), archbishop of Buenos Aires
- Godfried Danneels (Belgium, 6/4/33), archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels
- Ivan Dias (India, 4/14/36), archbishop of Mumbai (Bombay)
- Cláudio Hummes (Brazil, 8/8/34), archbishop of Sao Paolo
- Walter Kasper (Germany, 3/5/33), president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity
- Norberto Rivera Carrera (Mexico, 6/6/42): archbishop of Mexico City
- Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga (Honduras, 12/29/42): archbishop of Tegucigalpa
- Christoph Schönborn (Austria, 1/22/45), archbishop of Vienna
- Dionigi Tettamanzi (Italy, 3/14/34), archbishop of Milan
nationalcatholicreporter.org … 030504.htm
and
home.insightbb.com/~dennisforpop … dates.html
Check out the websites of a few of the candidates Wink[/quote]
From what I heard on CNN today at work he was conscripted into the German Army but deserted and actually spent time as an American POW. Since the war, and since he was ordained, he has done much work with the Jewish community.
Kind of funny hearing the different reactions. People didn’t expect him to get in, and yet he was the favorite, being John Paul’s “right hand man”.
I don’t understand all the intricate details of the rise to Pope-dom, but I think they should maybe have looked at someone in their 60’s anyhow.
Well, according to wikipedia it " was required by a 1938 law. According to National Catholic Reporter correspondent and biographer John Allen, Ratzinger was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend any meetings".
Ok, so…I am Catholic, but with all due respect, why in the hell would they choose someone that already has one foot in the grave? What is the point? 
so as a catholic, you believe in an afterlife? so why worry about his one foot in the grave, maybe god is playing his toes like a keyboard and conveying his infallible message down to us in some sort of toe tugging based sign language.
Interesting, USAToday has a story about the new pope stating that he had the ‘nickname “God’s Rottweiler”’.
WoW, a pope with existentalist views. I would rather have a pope pulling the strings of existence instead of supporting the old way of guilt.
Not sure if I heard this right or not, but if I did, he’s not really starting off on the right foot. A quote from him on the radio today saying " It is not Catholic doctrine that needs to change, but the rest of humanity". Ouch.
Who’s going to be Darth Vader?
Or use his german engineers to transform it into the new popemobile.