We have a Pope: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was chosen as the 265th Supreme Pontiff of the world's 1 billion Catholics at the close of the conclave at the Vatican, and appeared before a vast throng ion St. Peter's Square as Pope Benedict XVI.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1951, Pope Benedict XVI is a doctrinal conservative and brilliant theologian who is expected to uphold the most conservative traditions of the Church. He was one of the late Pope John Paul II's closest advisors and Dean of the Colllege of Cardinals and Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body that defines Church law.
The new Pope called himself a "simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," and praised his predecessor as "the great Pope John Paul II," raising the possibility that the late Pope John II will henceforth be known as Pope John Paul the Great, an honor reserved for a very few of the most influential leaders of the Cathiolic Church.
Ironically, the name was the odds-on favorite of Irish bookmakers who took bets on the next Pope's name.
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