Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger replaced the Holy Father John Paul II as pope April 19, 2005 as Benedict XVI. Ratzinger is the first German pope to be elected since Pope Adrian VI in 1523. Ratzinger served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith formerly known as the Holy Office, the historical Inquisition, in his capacity as such censored progressive Catholic theologians Karl Jung and Charles Curran and looks to promise no change from the current anachronistic positions of The Roman Catholic Church on matters including celibacy, birth control, women in the priesthood and homosexuality. A well respected, conservative theologian, Benedict XVI is considered a "bridge" pope between the wildly popular John Paul II and what conservative Vatican members hope will be a more conservative pope from Africa or South America.

One would not expect Benedict XVI to pay any more attention to the priest pedophile scandal than did his predecessor, who did so at the loss of an otherwise exceptional papacy.  Benedict XVI ensured that John Paul II's bruised eye would become a full blown shiner when, during his recent trip to the United States (the first of his new papacy) he met with the survivors of clerical sexual abuse.  The survivors were apparently impressed by the Holy Father.  I, for one, am eating a pound of crow over his Holiness as I have never been a big fan because of his draconian treatment of Kung and Curran.  But Benedict XVI did within three years what John Paul II failed to do in his nearly 30 years, and that was face the music.

I suspect that it will be too much to hope that Benedict XVI would kick Bernard Cardinal Law's fat ass out of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore where he currently serves as the archpriest. That he is not in jail is a travesty.