@jk rowling:
Wow, I feel so caught in my miserable act. How could I make the mistake of judging the new pope according to the positions he has taken consistently over the past, oh, 25 years?

Just to remind myself what I don't like about his public record:
- no to women in higher church offices
- no tolerance for gays (there are none in the catholic church anyway)
- no condoms for Africans or anyone else
- nonono to abortion under all circumstances
- no liberation theology in Latin America
- no limits for Opus Dei.
But this is all just character assassination and ridiculous conspiracy theory, right?

It must be good to hit from such a safe standpoint as yours obviously is. And really, I guess he is such a humane and caring man, if only I knew him personally (as you do), and a flood of reports on German TV tells me so until I start puking the joyous message out.

Posted by: teuton | Apr 20, 2005 1:16:29 PM | 101

Posted by: jj | April 19, 2005 09:53

"...Or is pedophilia, as I suspect, how a band of eunuchs reproduces itself? (I'm serious..if the data were available, it would be a fascinating study...at least historically I suspect that is the case...it's probably a method by which the current generation selects & "grooms"/maims the next generation.)"

Posted by: beq | Apr 20, 2005 1:47:39 PM | 102

Is it really so shocking that Ratzinger's position has consistently been in line with the doctrine of the Catholic church? Isn't that what his position is supposed to have been? Admit it, it's the doctrine not the man you really want to go for but perhaps you don't want to be labelled as 'intolerant' or worse, 'bigoted'. Come on, quit pussyfooting and play the ball, not the man.

Posted by: Franz Beckenbauer | Apr 20, 2005 2:17:01 PM | 103

jj: Not sure of your exact meaning, but from what I've read, a big part of child abusers and molesters were abused and assaulted during their own childhood/youth, which kinda messed them (M. Jackson being a probable example of this). Not that it's any excuse for their despicable acts - they should know better.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Apr 20, 2005 2:19:29 PM | 104

I shouted back at the radio this morning when I heard Bennie the Rat saying in LATIN that he would abide by Vatican II!

@citizen,

More on the gender-discriminatory 1948 IRS "secondary earner" category and its ripple effects on the US economy and the status of women:
Taxing Women by Edward J. McCaffery.

Posted by: gylangirl | Apr 20, 2005 2:50:48 PM | 105

& what i find quite odd - given the church's oft clamied reconciliation with the jewish people - it has chosen these last two popes(& this is certainly not meant as a racial slur) from countries - poland & germany - where exterminatory anti semitism became national policy

i don't see the reconciliation. i see a church obliged by the work of historians - very vigorous historians - even amongst their number - who made the last pope's 'reconciliation' - a political necessity

thinking does not fall from the skies. it is not created in a vacuum. it is elaborated with historical consistency & in this light it is correct to judge a country's moral weight

the murder of european jewry is not some old question - it still remains amongst the most important modern man & his institutions have refused to answer or resolve. they respond but in such ways that the real question is never dealt with

i certainly do not agree with goldhagen's thesis that all germany is guilty - nor the many jews who still regard poland with absolute horror - but raul hilberg & the historians who follwed him have elucidated points of culpability that have never, in my mind, been resolved

the very delicate point for example of the zionists relationship with nazism has never been really opened up to the enquiry that needs to be done. in this sense i think it is consistent that the israeli state is able to use exterminatory measures against palestinians is because it has not dealt properly with its own history

what happened to jews, to gypsies & to all marginalised people during the second world war & how the institutions of power in large part were complicit in that destruction remains pertinent

if you cannot deal with the most important moral question of the last century - how in hell are they expected to understand the more remote questions of hearts & souls

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 20, 2005 3:46:14 PM | 106

"And we watched with even greater distress as this Cardinal supported efforts to involve the Church in distancing itself from political candidates or leaders who did not agree with the Church's teachings on abortion and gay rights, prioritizing these issues over whether that candidate agreed with the Church on issues of peace and social justice. As a result, Cardinal Ratzinger has led the Church away from its natural alliance with Jews in fighting for peace and social justice and toward a stance which in effect allies the Church with the most reactionary politicians whose policies are militaristic and offer a preferential option for the rich.

We can't help but notice that under Cardinal Ratzinger's tutelage, the Church began moves to elevate the infamous Pope Pius XII to the status of saint. Instead of repenting for the failure of the Church to give unequivocal messages telling all Catholics that they would be prevented from receiving communion for collaborating or cooperating in any way with Nazi rule, or for failing to hide and protect Jews who were marked for extermination, Ratzinger has sought to whitewash this disgraceful moment in Church history. Many Jews are outraged at a Church that denies communion to those who have remarried or those who oppose making abortion illegal but that did not similarly deny communion to those who participate in crimes against humanity.

In fact, Cardinal Ratzinger publicly praised the fascist movement in the Church known as Opes Dei and supported canonization of Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, an open fascist who served in the government of Spain's dictator Franco, and who publicly praised Hitler."

rabbi michael lerner - common dreams

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 20, 2005 3:55:55 PM | 107

i would like to elaborate a little further. that countries that do not resolve - these very real & concrete issuses continue to repeat them

america & australia were founded in the genocidal war against the proprieters of the earth. this genocide was insistent & premeditated. it was conscient & deliberate. it was accidental that the spiritual perspectives of these people were demonised & punished. indians & aborigines today still stand on the abyss of their destruction

slavery constituted yet another issue that has never been resolved in real terms in america.

the russians & the chinese have questions that also need to be resolved especially in relation to the national question & the crimes commited against those people

europe has nothing to be proud of in their past except to the extent that there have been real attempts at reconciliation & a real demand for pardon

i do not think these grand questions are of little note. the impoverishment of public life & our spiritual shallowness is directly connected with the crimes committedd in our or our nation's name

what is different however with the extermination of european jewry was the role played by 'normal' citizens of germany, of poland, of the baltic nations of the balkan nations - who took part in the general massacre of jewry - indeed it would not have been possible without the active support of the populations. in the ukraine, lithuania, estonia byleorussia - they were the ones responsible for making their countries almost 'judenfrei' -& this often with the tacit acceptance of the clergy. in croatia - it was the catholic church who established the famous conversion or massacre during the second world war

again these are not old questions. they remain pertinent because we have done nothing to really deal with them. least of all the catholic church as an institution

spirituallity must have weight but it must also be elegantly subtile if it is intended to encapsulate man but on the contrary for century after century monotheisms have been hammers aimed at the sacred heart of the people

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 20, 2005 4:29:36 PM | 108

Pictures: Faithful See Virgin Mary in Salt Stains

When concrete is repeatedly wetted by a salt water solution, with alternate periods of drying during which pure water evaporates, some of the salts dissolved in the salt water solution are left behind in the form of crystals, (mainly sulfates) in the concrete pores and surface of the concrete unit.

These crystals re-hydrate and grow upon subsequent wetting, and thereby exert an expansive force on the surrounding hardened cement paste within the concrete unit when this growth occurs. This expansive force is greatly amplified by the ability of the salt crystal to grow rapidly to many many times its original crystal dimension upon wetting.

Posted by: b | Apr 20, 2005 4:52:30 PM | 109

i'm sorry b, but that salt stain more closely resembles a holy portion of the female anatomy than the virgin mother. now this is the real deal: a honey-mustard pretzel in the shape of the virgin mary holding the baby jesus. [insert predictable shrub/pretzel joke here]

Posted by: b real | Apr 20, 2005 11:33:36 PM | 110

I like you Billmon - love most of your writing. But very disappointed that you would tar Benedict XVI with the Nazi brush. As a non-practicing Catholic, I too was hoping for a progressive Pope and was disappointed in the conclave's annoiting Ratzinger Pope, yet I would never hit upon his brief forced career in the Hitler Jugend and Wehrmacht as an angle criticism. Your post on the new Pope appears to be the product of a lazy or tired mind.

I gather from what you are saying no one who ever served in the wrong army at the wrong time should be barred from any position of authority or responsibility in their life. Come on, Billmon! I thought you had a greater capacity for intellectual thought.

Posted by: jg | Apr 21, 2005 11:50:16 AM | 111

From the Independent:
Pope Benedict: His role in the Nazi years

Yet, in Traunstein, some of the town's older residents feel that questions about the Pope's early years remain unanswered. Herta Kaiser, an 83-year-old pensioner recalled that several people in the town hid Jews from the Nazis and helped them to escape to neutral Switzerland. "Traunstein was not all Nazi, it was also a Catholic stronghold," she said.

There is no evidence that the Ratzinger family felt inclined to help the town's few remaining Jews, or the smattering of anti-Nazi resistance fighters who dared to oppose the regime.

...
Ratzinger's election will also raise questions about the dubious role played by the Catholic Church during the Nazi era. The extent to which leading Catholics felt obliged to reach compromises with the regime is outlined by the stance taken by Ratzinger's mentor, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, one of the Pope's most important early influences.

Documented evidence shows that the cardinal visited Hitler's mountain retreat during the 1930s and was entertained to lunch by the Führer in person. During their meeting, Von Faulhaber is on record as telling Hitler that the Church saw him as an "authority chosen by God, to whom we owe respect".

Posted by: Fran | Apr 21, 2005 11:59:26 AM | 112

Billmon writes: "I don't particularly care whether its fair or not to bring up Ratzo's fling with the Hitler Youth." So you have resorted to using ad hominem to make your arguments. Pretty sad Billmon. Deep breaths, buddy ...

Posted by: Syd Barrett | Apr 21, 2005 12:01:22 PM | 113

Billmon writes: "I don't particularly care whether its fair or not to bring up Ratzo's fling with the Hitler Youth." So you have resorted to using ad hominem to make your arguments. Pretty sad Billmon. Deep breaths, buddy ...

Posted by: Syd Barrett | Apr 21, 2005 12:02:37 PM | 114

People - new thread open above for further comments on the new pope...

Posted by: Jérôme | Apr 21, 2005 12:56:29 PM | 115