New Pope's Reaction To Ratzinger Fan Club

Apparently the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was once presented with a Ratzinger Fan Club t-shirt, enjoyed it, but claimed he couldn’t keep it because he couldn’t be his own fan:

“He was humble, outgoing and laughed at a T-shirt that read ‘The Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club.’

“That’s how Chris Haehnel, 15, of St. Charles, remembers his visit in Rome with the man who Tuesday became Pope Benedict XVI.

[…]

“Chris, then a freshman at Duchesne High School in St. Charles, already had studied Ratzinger and papal politics. He said he liked Ratzinger’s conservative stands on moral issues. He gave Ratzinger a T-shirt he bought from an online fan club.

“On the front, it read ‘The Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club. Putting the smackdown on heresy since 1981.’ Ratzinger was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and combating heresy was part of his job.

“Ratzinger laughed at the shirt, Chris said, but said he couldn’t keep it because he couldn’t be his own fan. When he flipped over the shirt to find a quote attributed to him — ‘Truth is not determined by a majority vote’ — he laughed again and said, ‘That’s true. That’s true.’ Chris still has the shirt.”

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Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

12 thoughts on “New Pope's Reaction To Ratzinger Fan Club”

  2. It would be great to have a video of that! It’s up there with that pic of JP the Great making a face with his fingers over his eyes. I especially love the precise German logic; he can’t be his own “fan.”

    I’m getting a stein and putting it to good use.

  3. Hey, we are now just waiting for payday to order our own “smackdown” gear in assorted sizes for the whole family!

  4. Just heard on TV about a Catholic schoolgirl who thought the conclave had elected Cardinal “Rap-Singer” to be pope.

    Come back, heretic!

    Go with Benedict!

  5. I’ve got a t-shirt also. My sister has an acquantance whose brother is in the Vatican. She’s going to try to get it autographed – I’m not holding my breath, but hey – it’s worth a shot. And no – if it does get signe – it’ll never be on ebay.

  7. Yeh, I recon that the Ratzinger Fan club is great, I am going to get a t-shirt and wear it to the catholic school I go to.

  9. Earlier in this thread, Tim recommended the Web site http://www.thepopesfanclub.com. I just checked it out and, simply judging from its homepage, it seems like a very disrespectful site. The pictures on the homepage are quite insulting to our Holy Father.

  10. Earlier in this thread, Tim recommended the Web site http://www.thepopesfanclub.com. I just checked it out and, simply judging from its homepage, it seems like a very disrespectful site. The pictures on the homepage are quite insulting to our Holy Father.

  11. Earlier in this thread, Tim recommended the Web site http://www.thepopesfanclub.com. I just checked it out and, simply judging from its homepage, it seems like a very disrespectful site. The pictures on the homepage are quite insulting to our Holy Father.

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