Prediction

Considering that Pope John was also a very conservative orthodox Catholic who relied heavily on then Cardinal Ratzinger as protector of the faith, and who appointed most of the current Cardinals, there is little doubt that newly elected Pope Benedict XVI will change little that is fundamental and central to core Catholic doctrine, dogma, traditions and practices. As such subjects that relate to birth control & contraception, ordination, celibacy, role of the laity, and homosexuality will largely go unchallenged and unchanged. This pope, like Pope John Paul II, will still try to reach out and put a personal touch to his papacy in spite of this inherent lack of a willingness to accede to fundamental reform and change that could still be in keeping with Christ's ministry and key message. As such, the Catholic Church will continue down the road of contradiction and hypocrisy that has marked its institutional make-up and identity for hundreds of years.Having said this, we should all pray for the Pope that his reign will prove more positive than negative.

Jim, you might not make it back to Catholic Light again, but what "contradictions and hypocrisies" are you talking about? There have been hypocrites, sure -- but the Church has never contradicted herself on matters of faith and morals.

"Reform" means making the Church's members more holy. It doesn't mean changing the eternal teachings about God and man. Teachings can develop, but they don't transmogrify from one thing to another.

Jim,

Sorry to break it to you, but the Cardinals did elect a Catholic as pope. I'm intrigued - so "Christ's ministry and key message" just happens to correspond with your views on all the latest hot-button issues, most of which most of the Church outside of Western Europe and the U.S. doesn't really care all that much about. Maybe you didn't notice that the Anglicans and Lutherans changed their doctrines on these issues long ago and it didn't seem to help either in terms of membership or relevance. And why only the 6th commandment? Maybe the Church is wrong about stealing or lying?

Don't mean to be too snide, but I'm always a little confused that Christ's message must somehow correspond to our latest preoccupations. Thirty years ago the Church just had to become the new "secular city" or risk extinction; before that, it just had to give in to the state on the appointment of bishops (11th century, I think). Anyway, the Church has survived all attempts to reduce her to irrelevance, not to mention all the hypocricies and contradcitions of its members. Any other institution would have been long gone by now, don't you think?

I'm also curious why you are so interested in the Church if you think it is so hypocritical and contradictory - in a word, irrelevant. Most things that I think are irrelevant (e.g. what the Dali Lama thinks of my personal life) I don't spend a lot of time on, yet I've seen more and more commenters coming out of the woodwork to express their concern over the new pope, or the Church in general. Fascinating. Since Ratzinger's been who he's been for a couple of decades now, and ditto for the Church for 2o centuries or so, I would hazard a guess that such comments say more anout the commenters than they do about the pope or the Church.