Pope Benedict - not the hardline horror that some of us feared.

[Matilda]

Sydney paper, the Sydney Morning Herald, carried a story about Pope Benedict on Saturday, in which
the authors painted a portrait of a man who is just possibly rather more liberal in reality than
his predecessor, while not being afraid to put a strong traditional Catholic view across to the
faithful.

"...when Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, there was 'extreme apprehension and even a bit of
panic' among liberal Catholics, says John Wilkins, the former editor of The Tablet newspaper, the
leading voice of the Catholic left.

"As Pope Benedict, he smiles in every picture. He consults: last week he convened a meeting of the
world's cardinals in Rome just to hear their concerns. He even had a long lunch with dissident
Swiss theologian Hans Kung, whose denials of the doctrine of papal infallibility led the Vatican
to strip him of his right to teach Catholic theology in 1979.

"Supporters say Ratzinger was always like this: a sensitive, gracious man whose perceived harshness
came from his position as doctrinal prefect, not his nature. It seems too simple an explanation,
yet his human side has emerged. He carries a card that permits use of his organs after death,
making him the first pope to be a registered organ donor. Having once decried the 'barrenness of
technology', he now owns a papal ipod, on which he listens to Vatican Radio and his beloved Mozart."


http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/a-blessing-in-disguise/2006/03/31/1143441332067.html


A man who loves cats and Mozart can't be too bad.