God’s choice

The brevity of the last conclave of Cardinals to elect the 265th successor of St. Peter and the next Pontiff after the late Pope John Paul II is an indelible mark of Divine presence and guidance. Vatican observers and analysts may have accurately singled out Pope Benedict XVI as the eventual winner but they were still surprised at the quickness of the process in selecting him, only after a day and four ballots later.

To be sure, the ongoing "talks" before the conclave already zeroed in on Cardinal Josef Ratzinger as among the frontrunners. Even the odds makers favored him. Somehow there seemed to be an orchestrated move to project him as the leading "Papa bile".

It could not be stated with definiteness however that those who portrayed him as the frontrunner sincerely wanted him to be the next Pope. On the contrary, many of those who fear his staunch conservatism wanted him to appear as the favorite among the Cardinal electors purposely to knock him out of the running. These people were banking on the belief that frontrunners do not usually end up winners as proven in past conclaves.

They had in mind especially the last conclave in October 1978 when a relatively "unknown" Archbishop of Cracow, Poland by the name of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became the great Pope John Paul II. Then Cardinal Wojtyla was doubtlessly a long shot candidate at that conclave. His election was so unexpected that Cardinal Felici, who would make the public announcement, was still asking Cardinal Konig on the way to the loggia overlooking the public square, how to spell his name. And as Cardinal Felici jotted down his name, he was murmuring "What a terrible spelling"… Then during the announcement, when Cardinal Felici paused to draw out the suspense after initially declaring in Latin: Eminentissimum Acreverendissimum Dominum Carolum"…Someone in the crowd thought that it was 85 year old Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri who was elected. When Cardinal Felici pressed on to finish his announcement, "…. Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Wojtyla, qui sibi nomen imposuit Ioanem Paulum Secundum", the first chaotic question asked by tens of thousands of people was "Chi e?" (who?).

So when the front-running Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was elected in this conclave which is one of the briefest in history, many were still surprised at his election precisely because he was tagged a frontrunner and frontrunners usually enter the conclave with a big disadvantage as already proven in the last conclave when an obscure figure, not the frontrunner, became Pope. The outcome is the clearest manifestation of Divine presence and guidance. God wanted the Cardinals to elect a conservative in the fastest possible time. God intervened in this choice because of the manifestly increasing pressure to change some Church Doctrines which many consider as no longer relevant in an era of dissent and sweeping social changes. To the reformers, the election of Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was not only a surprise but a disappointment. Now their proposed reforms do not have as much chance as when Pope John Paul II was holding fort.

Thus barely had Cardinal Ratzinger warmed his Papal seat as Pope Benedict XVI, critics start pouncing on him as they see danger ahead for the Church because of his conservative views and personality. The usual lines being peddled once more are the empty pews and the dwindling ranks of the faithful because, with this new Pope’s known stand against issues such as divorce, contraception, gays, ordination of women, secularism and the "dictatorship of relativism", the decline in church attendance and beliefs would escalate.

But sinful and imperfect as I am, my simple Faith still tells me that life is not about man but about God; that what matters most is not what man wants but what God wants; that morals and Church doctrines should not be changed simply because man believes they are no longer relevant. The priest in his Sunday Homily said it best when he told us that: "Morals and Church Doctrines are not determined by statistics and surveys as truth does not depend on popularity or the outcome of opinion polls".

My confidence remains high therefore that the recently inaugurated Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI will weather all storms of dissent besetting the Church because he is fully aware that he is God’ choice and as God’s choice, he will conserve Christ’s legacy of unchanging truths always keeping in mind what Jesus told Peter, the first Pope: "Be not afraid".

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