Details Emerge of How Benedict Became Pope

[LTR]

The cardinals' vote for German Joseph Ratzinger, John Paul's doctrinal enforcer for 23 years, showed they wanted continuity and rejected a reformist change of course.

As Benedict XVI settled into power as head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, interviews and leaks from conclave cardinals made clear that he had built up strong momentum even before the election began, outmaneuvering moderate opposition. Ratzinger went into the conclave on Monday as favorite but many Vatican experts felt he was too divisive and too old, at 78, to win. They expected an alternative to emerge.

(snip)

Italian newspapers, considered to have the best inside track on events inside the secret meeting, agreed that Ratzinger garnered well over the two thirds, or 77, votes he needed from the 115 voting cardinals.

Some suggested he won more than 100.

(more)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8254100&src=rss/topNews

[Lone Pawn]

1. No, didn't you hear?

*Bush* elected the Pope himself! Neil Bush once was going to part of a religious educational organization that Ratzinger was also going to belong to that never actually got off the ground! That's incontrovertible proof!

:eyes:

[NYC]

7. Neil Bush & Ratziger cofounded an organization 6 years ago.

...Neil Bush, the president's controversial younger brother, six years ago joined the cardinal who this week became Pope Benedict XVI as a founding board member of a little known Swiss ecumenical foundation...

...The Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1999 to promote ecumenical understanding and publish original religious texts,
said a foundation official...

...The foundation, based at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Geneva, is listed by Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports as a management trust for purposes other than education, religion, charity or research...

The organization still exists. What is it that "never got off the ground"?

[Zynx]

10. Somehow I think more than two people were involved

:eyes:

[NYC]

11. Yes, I think there were 6 or 7 of them.

[Ysolde]

2. The only consolation

is that this guy is old and not in the best health. Maybe he won't live long enough to make things any worse?

[Pirate Smile]

3. On CNN today, they reported that Ratzinger had over 50%. The last

Pope changed the rules so that if a decision wasn't made in ___ days (I can't remember the exact number)when a 2/3rds vote was required, then a simple majority vote would decide who wins.

Since Ratzinger already had over 50% and those 50% made it clear they would just wait until that amount was enough for him to win, they just voted him in.

The new rules suck. Now they don't have to come to a consensus choice to make a decision.

Why does this changing the rules thing seem very familiar? hmmmm....

[Les BOOGIE]

4. coincidentally

Germany has been running a half page ad in the Houston Chronicle with a picture of Bush & the German leader

[burn the bush]

13. what kind of ad?

are they trying to connect themselves to him or disconnect themselves to him?

[ClarkUSA]

5. No matter how he got elected, he's going to be helping the GOP

the same way he did last year in 2006 and 2008.

Just watch.

[Blue Moon]

6. Baloney

If you feel that the Pope will help the GOP election in 2008, then you must also believe that the Pope helped elect JFK too. That's an insult to JFK and Catholics in general.

[NYC]

8. I don't think that was the point.

Ratzinger told American clergy not to give communion to pro-choice candidates. (That would be Kerry.)

[TahitiNut]

12. Please explain the "logic" ...

... when this Pope, when a cardinal/inquisitor, wrote a letter in 2004 to American bishops urging that Kerry (a Catholic) and other politicians supporting Roe v. Wade and choice be excommunicated. Funny that. He opposed the Catholic candidate (Kerry) and helped Bush (a scion of Satan). So, how does that square with the contention that one must necessarily (according to your "logic") believe the Pope helped elect JFK??? It would appear that the oppostie would be true.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[burn the bush]

14. I'm sorry but I am getting the feeling that the pope was elected in

exchange for clearing up that mess with the church molesting the children. Condi is suppose to do just that. I can't help but to think that the church made a deal to vote Ratz in. Now maybe it wasn't that hard of a deal for them and many of them wanted him anyway, but it's just too much for me that there is already a Bush connection through brother Neal and Condi is clearing the molestation charges, and the Pope comes out and once again declares anyone voting for pro choice will be denied communion. It's just a little too coincidental for me.

Why the fuck can't they come out and say anyone for taking over other countries, killing it's inhabitants and using your own military like disposable fodder is against God? Thats a much big fucking problem than pro choice.

[Cash]

9. Same way they always become Pope.

They get the votes they need.

I personally don't see why some people are so worked up about who the Pope is or isn't. I don't consider the Catholic Church's stand against certain things they regard as being immoral as being political at all, so I guess that's one reason who's Pope doesn't really concern me. Some people view everything from the eye of politics when IMO it isn't always the case, but that's what makes the world intereseting.