Pope Benedict XVI - Liberals alienated by election

THE election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI has effectively stamped the papal seal of conservatism on the governance of the Catholic Church for the foreseeable future.

Though he is a shy, retiring, disarmingly simple and reserved man, he is nonetheless regarded as a watchdog of doctrinal conservatism and an uncompromising defender of orthodoxy.

For the many Catholics who had feared a drift towards liberalism in the wake of the election he is an ideal choice as successor to the late Pope. Indeed, John Paul II had ruled the Church with an iron fist for the best part of 27 years under the theological guidance of the man who now ascends the throne of Peter.

From the outset, the scene was set for the election of a conservative. Laying out his stall in pre-conclave homily, Cardinal Ratzinger left no room for doubt that in matters of faith and morals the Church should continue on the well-worn path trod by his predecessor.

The German Cardinal emphasised that the Church needed a Pope who would defend traditional teachings and reject attempts to modernise doctrine.

However, for tens of millions of Catholics in South America who longed for a more liberal regime, his election will come as a bitter disappointment.

Ominously, he was credited with the ruthless crackdown on clergy who supported ‘liberation theology’, priests who championed the cause of the poor and oppressed in South American countries under the heel of violent dictatorships and tyrannical regimes.

There will be disappointment too for women who had hoped to play a deeper role in the day-to-day business of the Church. In the new Pope they will find a man strongly opposed to the ordination of women.

The litany of disappointment also embraces church-going homosexuals and lesbians who had prayed for a more compassionate approach by Rome towards the difficulties they face in their lives.

Jews too will be worried that a German who was a member of the Hitler Youth before becoming a priest is now the spiritual head of Catholicism.

Critics of the teachings of Rome on sexual mores will also lament the election of a Pope most unlikely to lift the ban on the use of condoms as a means of combating the relentless march of AIDS in Africa.

Much closer to the heart of 78-year-old Pope Benedict XVI is the state of the Church in Europe. Once its traditional heartland, Europe is now experiencing a process of ‘de-christianisation’.

Secularisation is a growing phenomenon in the wealthy northern countries, including Ireland, where young people are leaving the Church in droves.

It would be asking too much to expect Pope Benedict to follow in the energetic footsteps of his predecessor, a towering figure who brought an astonishing range of qualities to his role as spiritual leader of more than one billion Catholics around the globe.

Not only was he a much younger man, he was also a tireless traveller, a highly skilled communicator, and a fearless champion of world peace.

Under the new Pope, tensions are expected to grow between conservatives - anxious to hold the line on doctrinal questions - and liberal Catholics who want the Church to turn a fresh face towards the modern world.

Yesterday’s unusually rapid election of the 263rd Pope in the 2,000-year history of the Church means that the 115 cardinals regard him as a strong man, a Pope who knows his own mind. But whether Pope Benedict XVI will succeed in reinvigorating the Church is the imponderable question.