Andrew Sullivan, columnist and blogger

I'm still reeling, am still in shock. Given the church's internal debate, the choice could not have been more polarizing. Coming so swiftly, and after Ratzinger's pre-conclave rant about "the dictatorship of relativism," it's a statement of where the church is headed: toward more retrenchment, insularity and retreat.

Benedict has no pastoral experience, scant knowledge of the developing world, a terrible reputation in Europe as a full-bore reactionary, and no real comfort as an actor on the world stage.

In other words, he offers all the drawbacks of JPII and none of the advantages. He does have an interesting mind. But the more deeply you read, the scarier it gets: He even backs a pre-modern view of the conscience, which holds that you can only have a good conscience if you agree with him.

John T. McGreevy, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame

Ratzinger was John Paul II's primary theological advisor, but he seems more countercultural than John Paul II: the church standing against society, maintaining the integrity of Catholic doctrine. Ratzinger is very skeptical of secular modernity, as exhibited in the U.S. and Western Europe. He's a critic of liberal individualism. He's going to be skeptical of a lot of values that we associate as particularly American: capitalism, modernity, that kind of thing. That was true of John Paul II also, but his charisma softened the harder edges of that; I think we'll see the harder edges now.

He's not enthusiastic about the idea of women's ordination. Ratzinger seems unlikely to be a reformer in that regard, and also in regard to the sex crisis and what that provoked. He hasn't been a leader in any of that. The sex-abuse issue is a small blip on the larger Vatican screen ... I think they underestimate its importance and the alienation that can go along with it.

I think the two big issues facing the church are the role of women in the church and theological literacy -- that is, a deeper immersion in the Catholic tradition for young people, intellectuals and everybody else. Any pope is going to have to grapple with these; they are inevitable. The evidence we have so far is that he hasn't been very creative on thinking of new roles for women in the church.

Rev. James T. Bretzke, S.J., associate professor and co-chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco

The old Italian saying that the man who enters the conclave a "pope" comes out a cardinal has been disproven by the selection of Joseph Ratzinger as pope. His election does mirror another election; after the 32-year pontificate of the conservative Pius IX the frail and elderly Leo XIII was chosen -- and ended up ruling for the next 25 years! At 78, Ratzinger may have been selected both for his age and his stability; he is perhaps the most well-known commodity as future pope among the College of Cardinals. Yet, as another old pope, John XXIII, showed the world with Vatican II, quite unexpected things can happen when the Holy Spirit gets hold of a man. Ratzinger is a careful, nuanced and firm theologian, and I believe those three qualities will mark his pontificate, whether it be long or short. I join all Catholics in praying as I know he himself would wish: namely that the he would be open to God's Spirit in the world.

Michael Phayer, author of "The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965"

I was not thrilled by any means with the choice of Cardinal Ratzinger. Like Pius IX in the middle of the 19th century, Ratzinger was "burned" by the student unrest in Germany in the 1960s, and fled his teaching post at Tuebingen. His attitude contrasts that of John Paul II, who looked toward rebirth in society with hope, not with fear. Ratzinger's life experiences, beginning with the Nazis, has, I am afraid, led him to recoil and push away from encountering the world.

Rev. Dr. John L. Kater Jr., professor of ministry development and director of the Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, Calif.

In times like ours, people respond to conflict and complexity in different ways. One is to accept that the truth is greater than our attempts to put it into words; the other is to work hard at closing down discussion and debate. The new pope has been identified with the second. As an Episcopalian, I hope that in the future he will come to value dialogue over dogma, diversity over rigidity. The mystery of God is far greater than our efforts to pin it down.

Paul Lakeland, professor of Catholic studies at Fairfield University

Every time a new pope is chosen, whoever the predecessor, it is a moment of hope for the Church, a chance to grow and move forward. Today the cardinals of the Catholic Church dashed those hopes by electing a man who, however talented, is a figure who looks backwards to the past rather than forward to the future.

The cardinals lost their nerve and settled for continuity. Faced with the challenges of Islam in Africa, Protestant evangelicalism in Latin America, hunger around the world, declining numbers of priests and churchgoers in Europe and North America, and calls for flexibility in teaching and adaptabilty in the search of new ways to preach the gospel, they chose a man who just lectured them on secularism, materialism and hedonism, who thinks the solution for the European church is to settle for a smaller and more faithful community, and who was and is a hardline centralizer. Benedict XVI was the closest thing they could find to a clone of John Paul II-- without the charisma. It was John Paul's charisma that let people forgive him for many of his authoritarian ways. But Joseph Ratzinger is a very clever man, and there is always hope for conversion.

Dr. Matthew Fox, founder of Wisdom University and author of "Original Blessing"

Why should we be surprised that the current Catholic hierarchy -- which elevated Cardinal Law, the poster boy for pedophile clergy, to a special place of power in Rome -- has just elected Cardinal Ratzinger as pope? The yes-men of Pope John Paul II's church have chosen one of their own, who is guaranteed to play the role of the punitive father.

Ratzinger will be the inquisitor general of the 21st century. He led the assault on theologians and women, yoga (calling it "dangerous" because it gets you too much in touch with your body), homosexuals (who are "evil"), liberation theology, ecumenism and interfaith, and now he's been made the spiritual head of 1.1 billion people.

Cardinal Ratzinger is living proof of the dictum coined by Catholic historian Lord Acton after the First Vatican Council's declaration of papal infallibility: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Ratzinger does not support movements of justice, and has committed his career to silencing those who do. He is also committed to elevating the rich and powerful, such as Escriva, fascist sympathizer and founder of Opus Dei, to sainthood.

It is a sad day and a decisive one for the Roman Catholic Church.

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