How do they pick the fancy name? Does he get to choose?
He gets to choose. And then we get to figure out what message he's trying to send with his choice. According to the former priest in my office, it's something of a break with tradition to choose a name that been used recently, and there was a Benedictine he thinks around 1930ish. So my take (and his) is that whatever the message is, consider it allcaps. ("Probably a real conservative goosestepper," quoth the former Father Ralph. )
Now off to research Ben XV.
They were saying on the CBC that Ratzzinger's nickname was "Cardinal No," and he's very conservative.
When John Paul II picked his name (right after John Paul I died shortly after becoming pope), a comedian joked that the name "John Paul" hadn't worked out too well, and that the new Pope should have chosen a different name, such as George Ringo.
Ratzinger was in the Hitler Youth. For real.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't calling him a Nazi a little unfair? He was just in the army; he wasn't a member of the Nazi party. eta: (I think)
He's heir to a man who compared the pro-choice movement to the Holocaust. I'm not currently inclined to be cutting him a lot of semantic slack.
Ratzinger was in the Hitler Youth. For real.
Yes, but wasn't that required of all boys?
Weren't the Nazis anti-Catholic? I had that impression.
Ratzinger was in the Hitler Youth. For real.
When you're surrounded by mad dogs, not smelling like a rabbit is not stupid.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't calling him a Nazi a little unfair? He was just in the army; he wasn't a member of the Nazi party. eta: (I think)
I assume that most Germans of a certain age can be described as being on the German side of the war. It doesn't mean he still subscribes to it.
I heard someone on BBC say that his position as defender of the orthodoxy makes him seem more orthodox than he may be personally.
