Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany Elected Pope

New Pontiff takes name Benedict XVI

William J. Kole Associated Press

Media Credit: AP Photo / L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Pope Benedict XVI greets and blesses the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter´s Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 19, 2005.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the Roman Catholic Church's leading hard-liner, was elected pope Tuesday in the first conclave of the new millennium. He chose the name Benedict XVI and called himself "a simple, humble worker."
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.
The crowd responded to the 265th pope by chanting "Benedict! Benedict!"
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. He is also the first Germanic pope in nearly 1,000 years.
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).
Benedict comes from the Latin for "blessing" and is one of a number of papal names of holy origin.
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.
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.

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