Upon this rock . . .

Habemus papam. We have a Pope.

*sigh*

I tell you true. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was not my first choice. In fact, he wasn't in my top 50. His reputation has changed over the years; and not, in my view, for the better. Once upon a time, in those heady days of Vatican II when Blessed John XXIII's "fresh air" was blowing through the Church, Ratzinger was in the forefront. He believed in the reform of the liturgy. He found theological justification for the bishops having a greater voice in the governance of the Church. He was, in short, one of the "good guys."

And now?

Now his reputation is not just conservative, but borders on the reactionary. Collegiality? No justification. Altars? Turn 'em back around. Don't think my way? Take the highway, bud.

I tell you true. My heart sank when his name was announced. This is the man who thinks the priest-abuse scandal is a bunch of media hype. Who ordered a Sister here in the US to stop her ministry to gays. Who said that Turkey doesn't belong in the European Union because it's not a Christian country (and how many of the European countries are, anymore?). And this in the midst of all the overtures John Paul II was making to other faiths!!!

Worst-case scenario: he gathers a core of hard-liners around him, and together they fracture the Church even further. America continues to drift away; Europe continues to de-Christianize; the Asian church feels more and more abandoned; and South America says "We told you so! Should've elected a Latin!" And that way lies schism.

OTOH --
Best-case scenario: he grows into his office, as did the late, great Oscar Romero. Being responsible for the entire Church gives him a wider view, a greater concern for the welfare of souls than the technical points of doctrine. The compassionate side of him that his students loved comes back to the forefront. His universally-acknowledged excellence in theology leads him to a discovery entirely new to some in the hierarchy: the Sermon on the Mount. And he takes, as his choice of names indicates he may, the lead of Pope Benedict XV, who's first encyclical basically said: "Cut out the name-calling, guys, we're all in this together."

Actually, I don't think either scenario will play out entirely. I think it will be something between the two. I suspect many of us won't be happy with some of his stands, just as we weren't with JPII's. But Benedict doesn't have the charisma to make us love him anyway.
But if the reactionaries start complaining that he hasn't brought back the Counter-Reformation; and the radicals start complaining that we don't have a completely different church yesterday, then perhaps he will be on the right track, and can keep things together for the five or six years he probably has.
He is, after all, 78 years old.
So, I will hope. Hope that we have more of scenario 2 than scenario 1. Hope that the promise holds true: ". . . the gates of Hell will not prevail against it [the church]." Hope that the Cardinals listened well, and that Benedict XVI indeed is the choice, for whatever reasons, of the Holy Spirit.

I tell you true. I love this country, not because of it's leadership, but often in spite of them. The same holds true for the Church. Pope Benedict XVI, may he reign wisely, is not "The Church," any more than George W. Bush is the United States. The
Roman Catholic Church has survived worse, and probably will again.

The People of God remain.