Still Running Off at the Keyboard

POPE BENEDICT

There is little room for doubt about our new Pope's orthodoxy. He has been a tough enforcer in the past and is known for it, and there is no reason to think he will be less so in the future. How will this play out? The papacy has reaped benefit from the crowds in Rome for the funeral and now for the announcement. Perhaps it could be said that prestige of the papacy is at an all-time high.

Nevertheless, Pope Benedict's orthodoxy is on a collision course with the thinking of the European Union on several fronts, including homosexuality and sexual ethics in general, condoms to fight AIDS, women's ordination. It's too soon to speculate on how this will play out. Perhaps diplomacy will win out and the EU will bide its time. Perhaps not. I doubt that our new Pope will back down. Can we expect serious confrontation? It's certainly a possibility. How far is the EU prepared to go in opposing a Pope?

In the days leading up to the death of JPII, I had thought we were in need of an Italian Pope next time around. It occurred to me today that even though Joseph Ratzinger is German, he has been in Rome long enough to be Italian in the areas that count, specifically Vatican politics and Catholic culture. So in a sense we have an Italian Pope in all of the ways that I had wanted one. It was also clear that we needed a governor, which JPII admitted he was not. It appears we have a governor as well.

What all of this adds up to is a gut feel that there are interesting days ahead for the Church and for Western civ. Some are even suggesting that we are in the "last days" and that Pope Benedict will be the Pope prophesied by St. Malachy to be the "Glory of the Olive," the last Pope before Peter the Roman and the return of Christ. Prophecy, however, is worth taking seriously only after it has come to pass.

In any case, I'll go to sleep tonight thankful for the outcome of the conclave, and hopeful that God will stay close to this new man in Peter's shoes and guide him to defend the Church in the future as he has done up to now.