Ratz!

Ratzinger_1That’s what I’d be saying if I was disappointed.

But I’m not!

I’m delighted!

YEE-HAW!!!

God bless Benedict XVI!

Man, he wasn’t even done with the Urbi et orbi and I was wanting his first encyclical already.

Good money it’ll be on relativism and hook directly into apologetics.

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."

78 thoughts on “Ratz!”

  5. I’m glad, too. Speaking of Benedict XVI, what’s the significance of our new Holy Father’s choosing that name?

  8. Praise you God! And pardon me for my fears that it would have been anything other than such a wonderful man! As always, my Lord, You are in control. Thank you for the reminder!
    May his reign be long & fruitful! May many be brough to Christ through Pope Benedict XVI!

  10. HA!!! Yesssir!
    Long live Benedict XVI!
    (I can hear the liberals’ collective screech…)

  12. His Holiness has long been an admirer of the Benedictines, of the Benedictine discipline, and of St. Benedict of Nursia himself.
    You know, I was hoping — I don’t know why — that the next Pope would take the name of Benedict. It just seemed like it was time for another Pope Benedict.

  13. GOD IS GREAT!!!!!!!!
    To get to know Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), I urge everyone to go and buy the book Salt of the Earth by Ignatius Press. It is an interview he gave to a secular journalist. Here he shows his mettle as a media savvy Cardinal, now Pope.
    I expect great things from this great man.
    But again, go out and but the book.
    In Christ,
    Greg

  14. Now I can be a proud member of the Pope Benedict XVI fanclub! I love you papa!

  15. Yeeesss!
    As to the question of why “Benedict,” apparently he has a devotion to Benedictine spirituality, makes retreats at Benedictine monasteries, and (perhaps) Benedict XV was a diplomat-pope.
    Yeeesss!

  17. ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLESSED TWICE IN A ROW!!

  19. Thanks for the information. I do hope that the Holy Father, given his age, has a bit better luck with longevity than our beloved John Paul II.

  20. Hmmm… Years ago I read Dominus Iesus and have been impressed by Cardinal Ratzinger ever since.
    Hmmm… I read that he was an early “favorite”, but knew that probably meant nothing when it came to conclaves.
    Hmmm… Yesterday I thought to myself that while it would be nice to see him elected the chances were probably slim.
    Hmmm… I also thought that if he were elected I would probably seriously consider finally swimming the Tiber.

  23. Uhhhhh…Google Benedict XVI and see what happens.
    If Tim LaHay were Catholic, he’d be having a field day right now.

  24. Praise God! Thank you, Lord!
    It doesn’t hurt that His Holiness is one of my favorite theologians.
    Viva el Papa! Viva!

  28. Pope Benedict 16th

    Earlier, white smoke rose from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and the bells of St Peter’s Basilica rang out, signalling the Cardinals had elected a pope to succeed John Paul II. And yes, the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church has been chosen. Cardin…

  35. Jimmy,
    I’m surprised. With your sense of humour, I’ve been waiting for a headline…
    “Grand Inquisitor Elected Pope”
    I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s NYT.

  36. “Good money it’ll be on relativism and hook directly into apologetics.”
    Relativism has already been addressed recently, as you know, in Veritatis Splendor. Do popes have a habit of repeating the encyclical themes of their predecessors?

  37. How much God loves us to give us these holy, wonderful men to guide us to Him! Thank you Lord.

  38. Saw this on Amy’s blog.
    Instead of the German Rotweiller, our Holy Father will be our German Shepherd.

  39. Just sharing with you a special blessing. I had the day off today. My personal rosary was dedicated to conclave this morning. I asked the blessed mother for a special favor today that favor was that the pontiff be elected during my rosary. (yeah right). Well after the sorrowful mysteries I pray my Hail Holy queen and as I said my final Amen Sherry Screamed from another room.. WHITE SMOKE WHITE SMOKE!!!!
    Benedict XVI will be a good one. God is good.

  40. Julia beat me to the punch with the question about the new pope’s stand on capitalism, although frankly I would think that any Christian (including us Lutherans) would oppose unfettered secular capitalism in which the capitalists took no responsibility whatsoever for the people of this world.
    Still, I’d like to know the Pope’s views. Perhaps Jimmy could address those at some point.

  41. YES!
    I am so unbelievably happy! I cried, I laughed, I wanted to just run around campus this afternoon shouting We have a Pope and what a great Pope! I am just walking on air and yes, I have to go to class right now but nothing could take my joy from me today.
    woo hoo!
    God bless the Holy Father!

  42. I was sitting in my chair, after praying a Hail Mary, filled with anticipation and anxiety! Then they named him! I was floored! Tears welled up in my eyes as I sat there and shouted OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! VIVA IL PAPA! We have a Pope! For a young 23 year old Catholic, this is interesting and exciting to see, since well, i’ve never seen it before! God Bless the ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH!

  44. The Malachites (like the Nostrodomites, but they like St. Malachy instead) are all abuzz now.
    After all, they have been saying all along that the next pope would either be a Benedictine, or take the name Benedict XVI (or both).
    Ratzinger has, in their eyes, proven them all correct. I wonder if he did it on purpose?
    Or, maybe they are right… (dun dun dunnnnn)

  45. I heard Michael Novak on Al Kresta’s show mention that our new Papa was the Vatican II architect (if you will) of the reform of the papacy that culminated in hallmarks of John Paul II’s reign. And now he’s Pope! Amazing. My finite brain is constantly astounded by God’s wisdom & goodness!
    And, Jon . . . let me know when you start swimming & I’ll be on the other side with a towel! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. But it’s from my heart.)
    And Carl Olsen has been touting Ratzinger’s Truth & Tolerance (Ignatius) quite a lot recently. Gonna have to get that one, too!

  47. World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany is going to be a field day… And what a way to start the reevangelization of Europe for our Beloved Benedict XVI!

  48. Poor, poor liberals…and those poor women who were protesting about the lack of women popes…(Don’t they get it yet?!)
    Habemus Papam!!! Took a break from school to watch it live with my classmates…totally awesome. We would go nuts every time the curtain moved an inch.
    Don’t want to know what thems at the Ratzinger Fan Club are doing right now…

  49. HUZZAH FOR THE RAT! YOU RULE!
    Seriously, Ratzin– I mean Benedict XVI will be a great Pope.
    Awesome.

  50. Seriously delighted with that result. Whodathoughtit? The SSPX and other Trads should return to the bosom of the Church in droves now. They’ll never get a better Pope to lead them out of the desert of Vatican II (40 years) than Benedict XVI. He might not be perfect, but he’s darn close. He’s gonna get attacked from the left and so anyone on the right should support him.

  51. I’m delighted..I knew as soon as I heard the name ‘Joseph’…I immmediately added ‘Ratzinger’!(and promptly scolded myself)
    After watching Pope Benedict XVI on the news we went straight to evening Mass… afterwards I was unexpectedly asked to speak to a reporter for the ‘local Catholic opinion on the election of the new Pope’…I must have sounded like a real idiot, i was just babbling with joy!
    Viva Il Papa!!!
    God Bless.

  53. Um…Greg…last time I checked, the Second Vatican Council was a good thing, held under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Some people have done crazy things since, but those things aren’t actually part of Vatican II.

  54. Greg–Actually, Benedict will hopefully continue the work that John Paul began of leading out of the desert where the false spirit of ‘Vatican II’ dwells into the new springtime of the _real_ Vatican II.
    Kosh–I believe the Ratzinger Fan Club has been slashdotted. I keep getting 503s.

  55. I heard Bishop Coleridge being interviewed on the ABC radio’s Religion Report this morning. He saw the name Benedict as a link to Benedict XV who was pope from 1914-1920. He saw this as stressing the need to work for peace, as this pope had. The interview transcipt should be on the internet in a few hours.

  56. Ratzinger is an excellent choice. The liberal media, however is going into panic mode because he’s “too Catholic”. As they assault the Church, remember to rejoice and be glad…
    http://www.catholic.com

  57. They won’t use the phrase ‘too Catholic’, though. Expect to be playing whack-a-mole for the next few weeks, if not years, as we have to clarify again and again and again what the Holy Father actually said.
    I’ve already got stuck in a quarrel elsewhere where someone claimed that in his letter on the Pastoral Care of Homosexuals he condoned ‘queer-bashing’.

  59. I can see the headline in MSM: “The new pope is another Catholic! Dissenters disappointed.”

  60. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
    worship the LORD with cries of gladness; come before him with joyful song.
    Know that the LORD is God, our maker to whom we belong, whosepeople we are, God’s well-tended flock.
    Enter the temple gates with praise, its courts with thanksgiving. Give thanks to God, bless his name;
    good indeed is the LORD, Whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age.

  61. to all the people commenting on here, who are saying asinine infantile crap like “ha ha liberals” … let me remind you of something.
    this is the CATHOLIC church. catholic means universal. there are people of ALL KINDS in this church. it is not a church by political conservatives for political conservatives. it is a church currently headed by a conservative in the theologicial sense who represents EVERYONE in it.
    can’t more people put the divisive nonsense aside for one minute and just celebrate?

  62. I consider myself a Liberal, primarily because I worked with individuals with developmental disabilities for a number of years. I have seen what happens when the budget gets cut in the area of health care. I personally was witness to an incident where funds were cut to an individual that received daily visits by a home health care provider. When the funds were cut he could only have home health care once a week.
    Well, the man died because his GI tube (feeding tube) area became infected and it hurt for him to eat so he quit feeding himself. You can murder someone by pulling their feeding tube and you can murder someone by pulling their funds to help a person use their feeding tube – it is all the same to me.
    So I am a Liberal that states: Abortion – no, Capitol Punishment – only in horribly, horribly extreme cases, War – only if we absolutely have to…
    Sorry for the interlude, but I hate when vast generalizations are made about a particular group.

  64. But of course there are no liberal Catholics, since liberalism is a proscribed heresy . . . .

  65. shibboleth – i totally agree. liberalism in the general sense and being a liberal politically have nothing to do with one another.
    jared, your statement sounds confused. the liberalism that ratzinger referenced in his statements prior to the conclave is not “liberalism” in the political sense as john paul ii had some “liberal” tendencies, such as opposing wars and advocating global redistribution of wealth. liberalism (defined as general permisiveness) is actually what the church opposes.

  66. Great and wonderful are your deeds! Oh Lord God Almighty!
    The last pope was from a nation imprisoned by Communism and Communism fell.
    This pope comes from a world imprisoned by relativism.
    AND RELATIVISM TOO, SHALL FALL!!!
    When JPII passed, I realized what a coward I am in my daily life when it comes to witnessing my faith. I resolved to never let fear rule my heart again. And now that we have this marvelous German Shepherd at our side there is nothing to hold me back.
    Benedict XVI Banzai!!!

  67. Please, let us be clear. “Orthodox”, with the Church (the “structure”, no?). “Heterodox”, opposite the Church. “Liberal”, “Conservative”, = political terms, out of place when discussing truth vs. non-truth.

  68. Hear hear, Momof5…
    I teach in a Catholic High school in Canada, and the constant argument has been about conservatism vs orthodoxy. Orthodoxy can take on parts of what we in the West think of as either Left or Right, pleasing neither because it sometimes offends both. “Conservative” Catholics, cast off your chains! Call yourselves Orthodox and leave the “Libs” scratching their heads! Chesterton called Orthodoxy a great adventure. Let’s all thank God we have such an adventurous Pope… AGAIN! Viva il Papa!

  69. Some people are asking if a conservative pope will drive people out of the church. No, I don’t think he will.
    Faithful catholics will always remain faithful as God has always remained faithful.
    But if you are asking if a conservative pope will drive dissenters, fringe catholics, capital “L” liberals and others whose faith is as shallow as a teaspoon out of the church… I will pay for the GAS!! 🙂
    In all seriousness, this pope will ring out the Gospel with clarity and I am happy for him.

  71. Maybe this is old, but I heard my first Pope Benedict XVI joke…
    Q: What are they calling him in Europe now?
    A: PapaRatzi
    Seriously, I join with you in the fact that I can’t be more happy. Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit for caring for your church. I have always like Cardinal Ratzinger and now my fidelity is with him, also. My prayers are with Pope Benedict XVI.
    Viva il Papa!

  72. Maybe this is old, but I heard my first Pope Benedict XVI joke…
    Q: What are they calling him in Europe now?
    A: PapaRatzi
    Seriously, I join with you in the fact that I can’t be more happy. Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit for caring for your church. I have always liked Cardinal Ratzinger and now my fidelity is with him, also. My prayers are with Pope Benedict XVI.
    Viva il Papa!

  74. I heard a second grader in a Catholic school here in Oklahoma said to his teacher,”did you hear they elected a ‘rap singer?’ as Pope?” Too cute!

  75. Everyone seems to like this picture of His Holiness celebrating the Pontifical High Traditional Mass. Why is that?

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