Act of War

Liberal U.S. Catholics Dismayed at Choice of Pope

As I expected, the College of Cardinals chose John Paul II's right-hand man to be his successor. As I expected, the new Pope will be called Benedict XVI--a name that should indicate an approach designed to bring about peace.

Yet the choice of Joseph Ratzinger is nothing short of an act of war against those who remain within the Catholic Church, and those who have already departed it, who hoped for a course correction following the interminable and deeply conservative papacy of Karol Wojtyla. Some had hoped to see a relaxation of the outdated celibacy rules for priests; others dared to dream, in the days before JPII had appointed the entire group that would elect his successor, that women might one day be ordained and birth control deemed appropriate. Those dreams may have died long ago, but today's election is surely a very deep nail into the coffin.

And what of the Church's position on gays? Here's Reuters:

Since taking over the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as the Roman Catholic Church's chief ideologue, Ratzinger has denounced homosexuality and even branded other Christian churches as deficient.

"Gay and lesbian Catholics are going to be very hurt by this election because Cardinal Ratzinger was the lightning rod for so much of the anger they felt under the previous pope," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the New Ways Ministry, a national ministry for lesbian and gay Catholics.

Ratzinger has argued in the past that violence against homosexuals was to be predicted if they pushed for rights. Charming, no? And he will tolerate no disagreement with his views: he is believed to want a pure church, made up only of believers in all the doctrine he espouses, even if that means a much smaller church.

Congratulations, Pope Benedict XVI. You're going to get your wish.