Extreme Homophobe Ratzinger Elected New Pope

Extreme Homophobe Ratzinger Elected New Pope
by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief

Posted: April 19, 2005 12:57 pm ET, Updated: 1:15 pm

(Vatican City) Joseph Ratzinger one of the most conservative Cardinals in the Catholic Church was elected Pope on Tuesday.

Ratzinger was John Paul's deputy for theology as head of the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Congregation was the same organization responsible for the Spanish Inquisition.

The election of the 78-year old Ratzinger is seen as a desire by cardinals to have a caretaker pope.

Cardinals had faced a choice over whether to seek an older, skilled administrator to serve in this role while the church absorbs John Paul's legacy, or a younger dynamic pastor and communicator - perhaps from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world where the church is growing.

Cardinal Ratzinger was the author of the a 2003 Vatican directive to priests around the world calling for a proactive stand to stop governments from legalizing same-sex marriage and for a repeal of those those already on the books that give rights, including adoption, to gay couples. (story)

The 12 page document called on Catholic bishops and lawmakers to oppose the legalization of same-sex unions.

Ratzinger opposes contraception and the use of condoms to combat HIV/AIDS. He advocates a diminished role for women in the Church and has called for mandatory celibacy for priests.

Chiming bells and white smoke from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel announced the election. Tens of thousands of people on St. Peter's Square erupted in cheers and applause.

Ratzinger will take the name Pope Benedict XVI.

Going into the conclave he was the favorite but the speed at which he was chosen took even Vatican Radio by surprise, and it is only the third time in a century that a pope had been chosen on the second day of a conclave.

Ratzinger was born in Marktl Am Inn, Germany but his father, a policeman, frequently moved the family.

In his memoirs, Ratzinger wrote that he was enrolled in the Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He said he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood.

An accomplished pianist who loves Mozart, Ratzinger is said to have enjoyed playing the piano as a seminarian.

Two years later he was drafted into a Nazi anti-aircraft unit as a helper, a common task for teenage boys too young to be soldiers. A year later he was released, only to be sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to construct tank barriers.

He deserted the Germany army in May 1945. When he arrived home, U.S. soldiers took him prisoner and held him in a POW camp for several weeks. Upon his release, he re-entered the seminary.

©365Gay.com 2005
with files from the Associated Press