Pope Benedict XVI waves from a balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. (Reuters)

VATICAN CITY, April 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agency) – The Roman Catholic Church elected Tuesday, April 19, Germany's Joseph Ratzinger as its first new pope of the third millennium

The 78-year-old cardinal, a staunch conservative who has been the Vatican's doctrinal enforcer, will take the name Benedict XVI, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

A delirious crowd of around 100,000 cheered and waved wildly as Ratzinger, the 265th pontiff in the Church's 2,000-year history, smiled and acknowledged the applause from the curtain-draped balcony of Saint Peter's basilica.

His first words were met by a huge ovation.

“Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me a simple and humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord,” he said, paying tribute to his immediate predecessor.

The announcement came when white smoke billowed out of a chimney atop the Vatican, sending the waiting thousands on the square into raptures but it was not until another agonizing wait of more than 10 minutes that the bells pealed to confirm the election.

Within no time, other bells began answering back all over Rome.

Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927, in the German state of Bavaria.

A son of a police officer who was staunchly anti-Nazi, Ratzinger was  first ordained on June 29, 1951, by Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich.

Ratzinger was considered to be Pope John Paul II's “right hand man” and also one of his closest friends, and during the Pope's final illness, he carried out many of the Pope's functions as leader of the Catholic Church.

He presided over the funeral of John Paul II and also presided over the Conclave in 2005.

 “Good Hands”

Benedict XVI is pictured with his family in this1938 file photo. (R-L) His father Josef, sister Maria, mother Maria, brother George and the pope. (Reuters)

The choice was given a warm welcome from Catholics and Christians of different denominations across the globe.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that Pope Benedict XVI would be “a worthy successor” to Pope John Paul II.

“This is a great honor for Germany,” Schroeder said. “I think he will be a worthy successor to Pope John Paul II. I congratulate him on behalf of the government and all Germans.”

But opinion about him remains deeply divided in Germany.

A recent poll for Der Spiegel news weekly said Germans opposed to Ratzinger becoming pope outnumbered supporters 36 percent to 29 percent, with 17 percent having no preference.

Irish President Mary Mcaleese hoped that the new pope will live up to the daunting challenges ahead.

“May your acceptance of this tremendous burden of service bear fruit in our world. May God give you strength for these new cares,” the president said in a statement carried by Reuters

Nobel peace laureate Lech Walesa said the new pope is a “good choice” and will continue the work of the late Polish-born pontiff.

“This is a good choice, the continuation of John Paul II. He will continue the mission of our dear pope,” Walesa told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But the former Polish president noted: “He is quite old, and I don't know how he will meet the task ahead of him.”

Nigerian Catholics also welcomed the election of Pope Benedict XVI, brushing aside any disappointment that their leading papal candidate Cardinal Francis Arinze lost the race, AFP said.

Even in Arinze's home village of Eziowelle there was joy that the church had chosen a new champion and one who shares his predecessor's conservative values.

“Since he has been chosen by divine inspiration, all Catholics will work with him. We don't feel bad at all,” Father Chinedu Nwafor, the priest at St Edward's Church, told AFP.

Stanislas lalanne, spokesman for French bishops' conference, admires the “deep faith” of the new pope.

“When I met him I liked his clarity of expression, his rare intelligence, his extraordinary deep knowledge, his extraordinarily deep faith -- and at the same time he has a way talking to you in a simple language,” he told Reuters.

“When you listen to people like that you think you become intelligent yourself as you listen to them.”

Katarzyna Zbiegien, a Warsaw lawyer, called the election as an “excellent choice.”

“I was a bit afraid, but now I know that the church is in good hands. I think that Ratzinger is closest to John Paul's mission. His sermon during John Paul's funeral won my heart and I think the hearts of other Poles,” he told Reuters.

Bioethics

A man watches new Pope Benedict XVI on jumbo screen in Times Square. (Reuters)

Of the many problems facing Pope Benedict XVI, who has a reputation as a strict defender of conservative Roman Catholic doctrine, is bioethics.

The new pontiff faces a clamor from within and without the church for an easing of iron-clad papal bans on fertility control, the use of condoms against HIV and restrictions on stem cell research, AFP said.

Analysts say the Vatican's line on these questions -- entrenched and widened by John Paul II during his 26-year papacy -- has not only triggered the ire of bioscientists, doctors who work in reproductive health and grassroots workers who fight against AIDS.

They say it has also turned many Catholics into cherry-pickers, taking from their religion the bits they like and can follow -- and ignoring the bits they find unpalatable or unfeasible.

However, many Catholics approve of the church's ban on abortion and the use of embryonic cells in stem cell research.

As the recent case of Terri Schiavo shows, the church's policy on end-of-life medical treatment is praised by some as moral and clear.

And scientists and doctors, like the vast majority of people, share the Vatican's abhorrence of the cloning of a human for reproductive purposes.

To those who say its positions on bioethics is hampering research, the church replies that it is simply acting as a guardian of decency and seeking to add a moral dimension to scientific discovery.