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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Reaction: St. Benedict Catholic Church in Duluth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reaction from around metro Atlanta to the selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.
Members at St. Benedict Catholic Church on Parsons Road in Duluth were pleasantly surprised at the choice.
Katharine Dickmann, 40, was at the church Tuesday for a homeschooling session. “I was at home and a friend called me and said habemus papam.
“I didn’t think they would chose someone as old as he, but I was very pleasantly surprised. He is a very solid, very humble man. He is solid in faith, and I have enjoyed his writings over the years.”
The other women at the class seemed joyful and reassured by the selection. They all said they wanted someone very clear in articulating the church’s teachings.
“He’s a very great example of living the Catholic faith,” said Joselyn Schutz, 29, mother of three.
When asked about his age â€â€? Ratzinger is 78 â€â€? she said, “If that’s what the Holy Spirit intends, so be it. Who knows how long he is going to live? There’s no telling. They had been predicting John Paul II’s death for 10 years before it happened.”
“There’s no chance that the beautiful ancient teachings of the church are going to change,” she said. “The way we practice them, or the way we live out are faith may be different but the teachings will not change.”
Luis Guillermo Cordoba, the priest who leads St. Benedict’s hispanic mission, said, “This election has marked the path the church wants to take, in showing a secure and clear way. The view of the church is very clear.”
He wasn’t disappointed that a Latin American was not chosen. “It isn’t where he is from, but that he comes from the heart of Jesus.”
Pamela Lichtenwalner, 33, mother of five, called him a true leader. “Cardinal Ratzinger portrays the church’s teaching as it is. He is a true leader.”
Lichtenwalner has read his writings and thought to herself at the time that they were very clear. “It really made me think at the time he would be a good a pope.”
Rev. Paul Anthony Flood, parish priest at St. Benedict, said the fact that Ratzinger chose their patron saint for his name makes the parish a bit proud. “It just so happens we are the only church in the diocese named for St. Benedict, and we’re proud of that.”
Reaction: St. Patrick Catholic Church in Norcross
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reaction from around metro Atlanta to the selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.
Minutes after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was announced as Pope Benedict XVI, Rev. Thomas Hennessy, pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Norcross, climbed up a stepladder and started bringing down the black drape hung over the door ever since the death of Pope John Paul II. He replaced it with a drape made of intertwined gold and white, the papal colors, to celebrate the naming of the new Pope.
Hennessy came down from the ladder, but he was still on a liturgical high.
“I’m overwhelmed and overjoyed,” Hennessy said.
John Paul was a teacher and scholar, and Benedict XVI will make it a priority to implement those teachings, Hennessy said. Plus, he will bring added clarity and discipline to those teachings.
“The new pope will be able to say, ‘This is allowed, and this is not,’ ” he said.
Benedict’s German heritage also should help him reinvigorate the church where it is in decline, he said. “The church is suffering in Europe,” he said. Benedict will “call youths back to the great faith of their church,” he said.
Some of Hennessy’s parishoners were equally excited.
Margie Segura said she gave out a big “Yessss!” when she saw the news on television.
“It’s fantastic!” said Segura, of Norcross. “For me personally, he (Cardinal Ratzinger) was the best one. He was so close to the pope (John Paul II).”
Segura said her joy came from her belief that Benedict XVI will continue to lead the church down the same path as John Paul II.
“I hope everybody will be as happy as I am,” she said. “I think God heard my prayers.”
Peggy Sant, a St. Patrick parishoner who lives in Gainesville, came out of the church cheering “Habemus Papam” the Latin for the traditional announcement, “We have a Pope.” She said she had been hoping for the selection of Ratzinger, primarily because his record as a non-wavering teacher of church doctrine. “Cardinal Ratzinger reflects everything we want our church to be,” Sant said. “It’s a wonderful day in history and for the church. God is good.”
Other pastors had personal reasons to applaud the selection.
Rev. David Dye, priest in charge of Mary Our Queen Catholic Church in Peachtree Corners, said the new pope embodies the Catholic belief that the pope is the theological descendant of St. Peter, whom Catholics belief Jesus called the “rock” on whom he would build the church.
Benedict is “not a hard or difficult man, but he is a man of solid faith.”
In fact, Daye said, it was the “moral clarity” in some of Ratzinger’s writings in the 1980s help guide him in his decision to become a Catholic and then a priest, after having been a priest in the Episcopal Church.
“When everything was up for grabs back then, he restored some order to things that were confused,” Dye said.
Dye said he does not expect the new pontiff to “give in to cultural pressure” on issues such as allowing all priests to marry. Dye is one of the very small number of married priests, but he said he agrees with the church teaching on the matter. “Celibacy is a great gift,” he said.
All the highly publicized recent events surrounding the papacy â€â€? the gathering in Rome to pray for John Paul II, the massive turnout for his funeral, and the throngs who cheered Tuesday’s announcement â€â€? were signs of the vitality of the church and of its sense of pomp and ritual, he said. “No group puts on a show like the Catholics,” Dye said.
Rev. Edward Thein, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in East Cobb, said the new Pope contributed to his formation as a priest. While he was in the seminary in the 1970s, he studied under priests who had been taught by Ratzinger and they used his books in their courses.
Thein said he sees the new Pope as more of a moderate than a hard-liner. He also sees some indication of that in the name Ratzinger chose, Benedict XVI.
The last Pope named Benedict came in the early 20th Century, and he followed a Pope who was seen as highly doctrinaire, Thein said. That Pope Benedict moderated some of the policies of his predecessor, and this one may do something similar, he said.
“That may be part of what he sees as his mission,” Thein said. “I know he’s aware of where he wants to take the church.”
Thein said the new Pope will likely reach out to those of other faiths, particularly those in the Moslem world. Also, he will be a very challenging Pope to Catholics all over the world, especially to those in the United States.
“Benedict XVI will say, This is who I am, this is who we are. If you don’t believe me, that is not the Cathoic way,” he said. Just as John Paul II challenged Americans for their materialism, the new Pope will say to the U.S., “Just because you are the biggest and the richest doesn’t mean you are always right,” Thein said.
Reaction: At Holy Spirit Preparatory School
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reaction from around metro Atlanta to the selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.
Meghan Fitzpatrick, a 17-year-old junior at Holy Spirit Preparatory School in Atlanta, was eating her lunch of a corndog and macaroni and cheese Tuesday, when a teacher burst into the cafeteria with the news: “There’s white smoke!”
Within minutes, students and teachers convened in the gym. A nervous energy flowed like spiritual electricity.
There, seated in the green plastic bleachers surrounding the hardwood court, students watched a streaming computer feed from Fox News Channel projected on a big screen. The image showed, emerging on a balcony at the Vatican, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger saying his first blessing as Pope Benedict XVI.
The joy quickly turned into something else: The wave. Some students alternately stood and sat, as though cheering a victory at Turner Field.
“It was spontaneous. It wasn’t irreverent,” Fitzpatick said, after writing a letter to the new pontiff. “It spoke to the emotion of the students. It was a celebration.”
Michael Verlander, the school’s co-chair of religious education and theology department, didn’t know what to think of the display at first. This isn’t a sporting event, he thought. But he thought better of it upon reflection. “Since John Paul II died, we’ve been in a mourning period, and it should last only until we have a new Holy Father,” Verlander said. “Now, with the election, our faith has been restored.”
Ratzinger advocates traditional teachings of Catholicism — which suits 14-year-old Adam Lindenau, an eighth-grader — just fine. Like many of his classmates, he was overwhelmed at hearing Ratzinger’s initial blessing in Latin.
“He’s strong in his faith — and we need that right now,” Lindenau said. “The time that the world is in, with all the sin and evil, we need a light to into the dark and shine it up again.”
Like many others, Lindenau, dressed in his uniform of khakis and navy blue blazer, was happy to greet the new pope with the wave.
“Just sitting there wasn’t enough to express how we felt,” Lindenau said. “I think some seventh-graders started it and we said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it for the pope.’ ”
Verlander said he was the surprised at the selection, noting that Ratzinger, who presided over John Paul’s funeral, is something of a controversial figure in the church.
“I suppose the Holy Spirit doesn’t avoid controversy,” Verlander said.
Maria Guzman, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, said John Paul’s death left her in sadness. She missed most his love. She felt a spiritual void, now filled by a man from the same traditional mold.
“It’s good,” Guzman said. “Even though times are changing, the law of God shall remain the same.”
How good is his health?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The new Pope Benedict XVI has no apparent history of chronic health problems, but the 78-year-old German has been hospitalized at least twice since the early 1990s, according to records and reports. In September 1991, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that temporarily affected his left field of vision, according to the veteran Vatican journalist John Allen in his 2000 book “Cardinal Ratzinger.” There is no indication that it left any lingering health difficulties. In August 1992, he cut his head after slipping in the bathroom during a vacation in the Italian Alps, the Italian news agency ANSA reported at the time. Thomas Frauenlob, director of St. Michael’s seminary in Traunstein where the pope studied as a youth and still visits annually, said he had never heard of any major ailments. “He seems healthy,” said Frauenlob, who last saw him over the New Year’s holiday. “He comes and eats and drinks whatever he wants.” But the Rev. Thomas Reese, an expert on Vatican affairs, believed the new pontiff’s health was “not that good” during the past year. He gave no specifics.
The world reacts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From Notre Dame in Paris to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, cathedral bells tolled and prayers were offered Tuesday to celebrate the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Roman Catholics and political and religious leaders around the world embraced the staunchly conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as successor to the hugely popular Pope John Paul II. Many watched live television broadcasts of the white smoke that puffed from a Vatican chimney to tell the world a new pontiff had been chosen. But while some praised Ratzinger as a fitting choice to consolidate and build on John Paul’s work, others saw him as too hard-line to lead the church in the 21st century. Jewish and Muslim leaders said they were hopeful that Ratzinger, who chose the name Benedict XVI, would continue his predecessor’s effort to reach out to those from other faiths. At St. Michael Seminary in Traunstein, Germany, which Ratzinger attended as a child, a roomful of boys jumped up and cheered when the news of his election was announced. “It’s fantastic that it’s Cardinal Ratzinger,” said Lorenz Gradl, 16, who was confirmed by Ratzinger in 2003. “It’s a very good choice,” agreed Alois Kansky, priest at the St. Anthony church in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, as he rang the bells to honor the new pontiff. But some worried about the new pope’s deep conservatism, saying he was the wrong choice to lead the church as it grapples with a host of modern problems. Divisions between the wealthy north and the poor south, priest sex-abuse scandals, a chronic shortage of clergy in Western nations and the stream of Catholics leaving the church are among the issues confronting Benedict XVI. “The election signalizes continuity,” said Hans Peter Hurkal, chairman of the Austrian branch of We are the Church, a group that promotes reform within the church. “But if Pope Benedict XVI refuses to reform, the church’s descent will go faster,” he said. “There is a clear demand for reforms.” The leader of Ireland’s 4 million Roman Catholics, Archbishop Sean Brady, urged the faithful to pray for their new leader. “The election of our new pope is not only a source of great joy and hope for Catholics throughout the world, it is also an important event for the whole human family,” he said. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan congratulated the new pope and wished him “every strength and courage as he takes on his formidable responsibilities.” “His holiness brings a wealth of experience to this exalted office,” Annan said in a statement.
Inauguration Mass set for Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pope Benedict XVI will be formally installed Sunday, but his papacy began inside the Sistine Chapel immediately after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected and responded with a simple: “I accept.”
Hints of what that papacy will mean for the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics could come as early as Wednesday in his homily at Mass, which the Vatican said would be delivered in Latin, or during Sunday’s installation at St. Peter’s Basilica.
In the first homily of John Paul II after his election in 1978, the newly minted pope seized the moment to impress the faithful with his now-famous phrase: “Don’t be afraid.” John Paul directed it at all Catholics, but believers in his native Poland â€â€? then struggling to shake off communist rule â€â€? took his words especially to heart.
The Vatican describes the installation Sunday as “a solemn liturgical rite of inauguration.” The ceremony used to be called a coronation back when popes wore crowns and wielded political as well as religious power.
Some previous Pope Benedicts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Benedict, the name of the new pope, is one of the more frequent choices made by pontiffs. A look at some previous Benedicts:
- Benedict XV (reigned 1914-1922): He was chosen as a contrast with his predecessor Pius X, whose theological crackdown against “modernism” had roiled the church. His accession coincided with the start of World War I.
- Benedict XIV (1740-1758): He was a compromise choice after an arduous six-month conclave. Like former professor Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he was considered a scholar.
- Benedict XIII (1724-1730): A rare pope from a religious order, the Dominicans, he remained head of his former Italian diocese as well as the bishop of Rome.
- Benedict XII (1335-1342): He was one of the French popes who reigned from Avignon instead of Rome, considered a bleak era for the papacy.
- Benedict XI (1303-1304): Also a Dominican, he was considered scholarly and a peacemaker among church factions.
New pope’s hometown celebrates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Students at the seminary where Joseph Ratzinger studied for the priesthood as a teenager in the 1940s erupted in cheers Tuesday at the news that he had become the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Students at St. Michael’s seminary in Traunstein pumped their hands in the air, and the schools director was in tears.
“I’m completely overwhelmed. I can’t fathom what happened,” Rev. Thomas Frauenlob said. “He eats with us. I can’t grasp it. I know he’s going to do a really good job.”
The class then joyfully ran together into church for Mass, joined by a few people from the town before church’s ornate gold altar. Frauenlob, who officiated, said, “We’re celebrating our Bavarian pope, and we are thankful.”
“It’s fantastic that it’s Cardinal Ratzinger. I met him when he was here before and I found him really nice,” said Lorenz Gradl, 16, who was confirmed by Ratzinger in 2003.
Michael Winichner, the school’s prefect who has had dinner with Ratzinger at Christmas time, said there was “a great feeling of celebration.”
“He’s a very nice man,” he said. “He comes off a little bit shy.”
One reason the students were excited was the possibility of a trip to Rome to meet the pope. Winichner was hesitant: “I imagine he has a rather full appointment calendar.”
Ratzinger was born in the town of Marktl Am Inn, but the family moved often because of his father’s job as a police officer, and he wrote in his memoirs that he considered Traunstein his hometown. He visits the town often, and stays in an apartment at the seminary, which now functions as a high school and no longer focuses on preparing young men for the priesthood.
People in Traunstein say they’ve seen Ratzinger’s softer side, despite his reputation as a theological hard-liner. Frauenlob said he has come home to confirm teenagers and had spent time ministering to the old and sick.
Traunstein was where Ratzinger returned after deserting the German army in 1945, and it was the place where he was taken prisoner by U.S. troops. He was released from a U.S. POW camp in June of that year and hitched a ride home on a milk truck.
Crowd cheers election of pope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There was an agonizing wait as the smoke went up and it appeared to be white — but nobody was sure. Then the bells began to toll and people screamed in joy, “long live the pope!”
For the tens of thousands of people packed St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday for a second day to watch the narrow chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, it was an agonizing 15 minutes of uncertainty. People said “white,” and “black,” then some began to chant “it’s white, it’s white,” and a group of Brazilians started jumping up and down, pushing their fists in the air.
“Habemus papam, habemus papam,” said Daomario Barbalho, 26, from Natal, Brazil.
As the minutes ticked by the uncertainly grew, and at 5:55 p.m. Amy Turnipseed, 21, an American, said: “It looks really white, but I’m not sure.”
There was a brief flutter when the bells rang at 6 p.m., but the cheers died down when they stopped ringing. Minutes later, they began in earnest and the crowd erupted.
“Oh my gosh, this is insane,” Turnipseed said.
Smoke fuels excitement among Vatican crowd
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A false alarm sent people scurrying toward the front of St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday when noon church bells coincided with smoke coming from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel.
Sue Zaunbrecher, a 50-year-old accountant from Covington La., climbed over the chair in front her. “I was going to be there,” she said.
It was the second emission from the temporary Sistene Chapel chimney. On Monday night, the smoke first appeared white, then billowed black.
“It’s an incredible experience, even to see the black smoke,” said Christine Lozes, 52, a lawyer also from Covington, La.
The conclave of 115 cardinals meeting here to select a successor to Pope John Paul II broke for lunch after the morning voting. They are expected to resume meeting about 3 p.m., or 9 a.m. EDT.
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