Habemus papam (We have a Pope) (moved from ATSNN)

Yesterday, on April 19th, the College of Cardinals selected the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany was their choice for this extremely influential position, which commands loyalty of a billion believers in countries all over the globe. The new pontiff is seen as a conservative who defends catholic principles on issues such as homosexuality very staunchly. On the other side of that coin, he has been criticized by some outside the church as possibly not being able to "lead the church into the 21st century".



Pope Benedict XVI is an interesting choice in that he is a little boring. Some had speculated about an African or Latin cardinal ascending to the papacy, while others had viewed this as an opportunity to bring in a reformer who could address issues such as women in the priesthood, marriage of priests, and parity between homosexuality and other sins. In contrast to those expectations, Pope Benedict XVI is a conservative with a record of taking action to reinforce the current church position on all of the above named issues.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of his views is that he has spoken out against Turkish admission to the EU on the basis of their Muslim heritage. This is not an insincere or PC man; he makes no bones about his belief that his religion is the one and only way to God. Depending on his level of influence and activity, there is room to wonder if this pope may draw attention (and attacks) from Muslim extremists, or if he might even affect Europe's place in the War on Terror.

I've recieved a No: repeat U2U on this thread, but I don't see another story. Could somebody enlighten me so that if I've stepped on somebody's toes we can correct it? (Or was somebody just mistaken?)

Im sure there was a thread on this, But i cant seem to see it anywhere?

Maybe with the board going down it has been lost for the sec?..

In the interest of fairness, would everyone please refrain from voting either way until we find out? I don't want to lose my story, but I would not want to steal anyone else's thunder either.

A search for "new pope" in atsnn turned up nothing besides my post. The only other pope thread is about the chance of him mentioning ETs. Apparently this story was not covered because of the down-time. Maybe we all just assumed somebody would report it and didn't take into account that nobody had the chance yet?

Et habemus multus papas postum, secretum et plaintoseeum.

Dinkum.

OK, I know a handful of legal terms and everything that was said between Doc Holiday and John Ringo in the movie Tombstone. Other than that I don't speak latin.
Oh, except for one bumper sticker I saw .
Lingua mortua la sola bona lingua est.
The only good language is a dead language.

When it comes to we, you can leave me out of it.

The Catholics have a Pope, I don't!

Besides, why do the Cardinals get to vote for the Pope? Why can't it be the Braves, the Mariners or the Mets?