Germany's Ratzinger Named Pope

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the Roman Catholic Church's leading hard-liner, was elected the new pope Tuesday in the first conclave of the new millennium.

Ratzinger chose the name Benedict XVI and called himself "a simple, humble worker." Benedict is one of the more frequent choices made by pontiffs. The last Benedict, XV, was reputedly moderate; the name comes from Latin word for "blessing."

Ratzinger, the first German pope in centuries, emerged onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where he waved to a wildly cheering crowd of tens of thousands and gave his first blessing. Other cardinals clad in their crimson robes came out on other balconies to watch him after one of the fastest papal conclaves of the past century.

"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me — a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," he said after being introduced by Chilean Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estivez.

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 — then struggling to shake off communist rule — took his words especially to heart.

Ratzinger, a rigorously conservative guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy who turned 78 on Saturday and was chosen the Catholic Church's 265th pontiff Tuesday, went into the Vatican conclave a leading candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II.

But, as CBS News Correspondent John Roberts reports, the selection of Ratzinger so quickly was a choice that defied the conventional wisdom. Ratzinger was the favorite going in — but the church's top enforcer was seen as far too controversial to be elected Pope. And the swift vote surprised thousands of observers.

"He could be a wedge rather than a unifier for the church," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit weekly magazine America.

This was clear in St. Peter's Square moments after the announcement that Ratzinger had been selected. Amid the deafening applause, there were also groans and pockets of stunned silence.

"We were all hoping for a different pope — a Latin American perhaps — but not an ultraconservative like this," said French pilgrim Silvie Genthial, 52.

"He was known as the enforcer, and this certainly means that that will probably be a continuing theme, much to the disturbance of some of the more liberal elements in the Catholic Church," reports WCBS-AM's Rich Lamb, a veteran Church-watcher.

"He served for 20 years as John Paul's chief theological adviser," said Lamb. "He cracked down on a number of things that would be considered liberal — liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings."

His performance at John Paul II's funeral may have won the election for him. And not everyone's a critic.

CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips reports that Ratzinger's reputation as "uncompromising" — his backers say — is undeserved.

"He himself is absolutely not the iron-fisted enforcer, arch-Conservative that he's depicted as being," Father Richard Neuhaus of the Religious Public Policy Institute told Phillips.

Ratzinger turned 78 on Saturday. His age clearly was a factor among cardinals who favored a "transitional" pope who could skillfully lead the church as it absorbs John Paul II's legacy, rather than a younger cardinal who could wind up with another long pontificate.

The new pope is the oldest elected since Clement XII, who was chosen in 1730 at 78 but was three months older than Ratzinger.

Cardinals also had faced a choice over whether to seek a younger, dynamic pastor and communicator — perhaps from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world where the church is growing.

Ratzinger is the first Germanic pope in nearly 1,000 years. There were at least three German popes in the 11th century. Catholics in his native Germany celebrated the vote.

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."

Benedict XVI decided to spend the night at the Vatican hotel, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, and to dine with the cardinals, said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. He was to preside over a Mass on Wednesday morning in the Sistine Chapel and will be formally installed on Sunday at 10 a.m. (4 a.m. EDT).

The last pope from a German-speaking land was Victor II, bishop of Eichstatt, who reigned from 1055-57.

On Monday, Ratzinger, who was the powerful dean of the College of Cardinals, used his homily at the Mass dedicated to electing the next pope to warn the faithful about tendencies that he considered dangers to the faith: sects, ideologies like Marxism, liberalism, atheism, agnosticism and relativism — the ideology that there are no absolute truths. Read some of Ratzinger's past quotes on these and other topics here.

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism," he said, speaking in Italian. "Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.

Ratzinger served John Paul II since 1981 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he has disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms.

He had gone into the conclave with the most buzz among two dozen leading candidates. He had impressed many faithful with his stirring homily at the funeral of John Paul II, who died April 2 at age 84.

President Bush called him a "man of great wisdom and knowledge."

"We remember well his sermon at the pope's funeral in Rome, how his words touched our hearts and the hearts of millions," Bush said. "We join with our fellow citizens and millions around the world who pray for continued strength and wisdom as His Holiness leads the Catholic Church."

Some have questioned whether the new pope betrayed any pro-Nazi sentiment during his teenage years in Germany during World War II.

In his memoirs, he wrote of being enrolled in Hitler's Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He says he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood.

Two years later, he was drafted into a Nazi anti-aircraft unit as a helper, a common fate for teenage boys too young to be soldiers. Enrolled as a soldier at 18, in the last months of the war, he barely finished basic training.

"We are certain that he will continue on the path of reconciliation between Christians and Jews that John Paul II began," Paul Spiegel, head of Germany's main Jewish organization, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

White smoke poured from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel and the bells of St. Peter's pealed at 6:04 p.m. (12:04 p.m. EDT) to announce the conclave had produced a pope. Flag-waving pilgrims in St. Peter's Square chanted: "Viva il Papa!" or "Long live the pope!"

The bells rang after a confusing smoke signal that Vatican Radio initially suggested was black but then declared was too difficult to call. White smoke is used to announce a pope's election to the world.

It was one of the fastest elections in the past century: Pope Pius XII was elected in 1939 in three ballots over two days, while Pope John Paul I was elected in 1978 in four ballots over two days. The new pope was elected after either four or five ballots over two days.

"It's only been 24 hours, surprising how fast he was elected," Vatican Radio said.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Germany told reporters Tuesday night that Benedict was elected on the fourth ballot — the first of the afternoon session.

The cardinals took an oath of secrecy, forbidding them to divulge how they voted. Under conclave rules, a winner needed two-thirds support, or 77 votes from the 115 cardinal electors.

After the smoke appeared, pilgrims poured into the square, their eyes fixed on the burgundy-draped balcony. Pilgrims said the rosary as they awaited the name of the new pope and prelates stood on the roof of the Apostolic Palace, watching as the crowd nearly doubled in size.

Niels Hendrich, 40, of Hamburg, Germany, jumped up and down and shouted, "Habemus papam!" — Latin for "We have a pope!" when the smoke first poured from the chimney, but he then gave only three halfhearted claps when he learned who it was.

"I am not happy about this at all," he said. "Ratzinger will put the brakes on all the progressive movements in the church that I support."

Many others in the square, however, were joyful — as were those in the pope's hometown of Traunstein, Germany. A room full of 13-year-old boys at St. Michael's Seminary that Ratzinger attended cheered and clapped as the news was announced.

"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.

After the bells started ringing, people on the streets of Rome headed from all directions toward Vatican City. Some priests and seminarians in clerical garb were running. Nuns pulled up their long skirts and jogged toward the square. Drivers honked horns and some people closed stores early and joined the crowds.

Police immediately tried to direct traffic but to little effect.

"I have, like, butterflies in my stomach," said Teresa Madden, 20, of Steubenville, Ohio, who was in the square. "I just want to laugh."

Ratzinger succeeds a pope who gained extraordinary popularity over a 26-year pontificate, history's third-longest papacy. Millions mourned him around the world in a tribute to his charisma.

While John Paul, a Pole, was elected to challenge the communist system in place in eastern Europe in 1978, Benedict faces new issues: the need for dialogue with Islam, the divisions between the wealthy north and the poor south as well as problems within his own church.

These include the priest sex-abuse scandals that have cost the church millions in settlements in the United States and elsewhere; coping with a chronic shortage of priests and nuns in the West; and halting the stream of people leaving a church indifferent to teachings they no longer find relevant.

Under John Paul, the church's central authority grew, often to dismay of bishops and rank-and-file Catholics around the world.

Pope John XXIII was 77 when he was elected pope in 1958 and viewed as a transitional figure, but he called the Second Vatican Council that revolutionized the church from within and opened up its dialogue with non-Catholics.

Benedict will have to decide whether to keep up the kind of foreign travel that was a hallmark of John Paul's papacy, with his 104 pilgrimages abroad.

Meisner, the German cardinal, said Benedict will attend the mid-August Catholic youth day gathering in Cologne, Germany. John Paul had agreed to visit and organizers have already spent millions of dollars in preparations.

"With the new Holy Father, we can be assured of continuity with his predecessor and of a personality who will lead the church with great responsibility before God," said Heiner Koch, the prelate in charge of the Cologne event.