21st April, 2005
DAVID ADAMS

“After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.

"The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

"Let us move forward in the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you.”

Such were the first words addressed to the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics by German Joseph Ratzinger following his election as Pope Benedict XVI early Wednesday morning Australian time.

Later, in celebrating his first mass as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI said, in a reference to Pope John Paul II, that “confounding all my expectations, divine providence through the votes of the venerable father cardinals has called me to succeed this great pope.”

The 78-year-old said that the church wanted to “continue in open and sincere dialogue” with people, and what is being seen as a commitment to continue the work of his predecessors in engaging with other faiths said he would “spare no effort and commitment to continue the promising dialogue with other civilisations”.

Pope Benedict XVI’s election has been welcomed by many Catholics across Australia and around the world, although some liberal sections of the church have expressed fears about his conservatism.

Speaking at a press conference in Rome, Australian cardinal George Pell said he believed the church was “in safe hands”.

“The Pope brings us security that the apostolic tradition will be explained and defended,” he said. Cardinal Pell described the new Pope as a “very capable intellectual” who had shown he could speak to young people.

The president of the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference, Archbishop Francis Carroll, has welcomed the election of Cardinal Ratzinger. Speaking from Rome, he said the new pontiff had already given "many years of outstanding service to the church" and was possessed of a "renowned theological intellect".

World leaders have also welcomed the appointment with US President George Bush describing Pope Benedict XVI as “a man of great wisdom and knowledge” and one who “serves the Lord” while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the Pope brought a “wealth of experience” to the office.

Born in Marktl am Inn in Bavaria, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI is the son of a police officer who came from a farming family.

During World War II, he served in the Hitler Youth and then in the last months of the war in the auxiliary air service but his biographers have said he was never a member of Nazi party and that his family opposed Hitler's regime.

Following the war (which he finished as an American prisoner of war), he went to study philosophy and theology and in 1951 was ordained a priest.

In 1953, he was awarded a doctorate of theology and later qualified as a university teacher, eventually becoming a professor of theology.

In 1977, he was made Archbishop of Munich and Freising and proclaimed a cardinal by Pope Paul VI shortly after.

Various senior positions within the Roman Catholic Church followed, most notably his appointment by Pope John Paul II in 1981 to Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - the successor office to the infamous Inquisition - and his election in 2002 to Dean of the College of Cardinals.