Reply #313: I haven't lived there since 1994, but I got back regularly & have lots of

[Pachamama]

family and friends there. Grew up in southern Munich near Lake Starnberg...attendance and following Catholic doctrine have been declining steadily for years and Ratzinger is seen as ultra-conservative and is not very popular. My family there thinks that this will just mean more Germans will leave or not attend Church any longer.

I personally had been hoping for a Pope from Africa or Central/South America....that would have been a very positive and popular choice and had profound affects and the message would have been a welcomed one, particularly in regions where the membership is stronger and it would have been an encouraging sign to me, my family and other Catholics.

Re. Ratzinger being German....that doesn't mean anything to me or my family and friends in Germany...Poland atleast had a lot to be proud in Karol "John Paul II"....Very little to be proud of with Ratzinger....