by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 19,
2005
The Vatican (LifeNews.com) -- The world's Catholic leaders have
chosen a strong pro-life advocate and the top official under Pope John
Paul II as the new leader of the church. German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
was charged with teaching Catholics worldwide about the church's position
on key issues such as abortion and bioethics issues.
Ratzinger
will take the name Pope Benedict XVI.
The vote for Ratzinger is seen by many observers as a desire on the part of the world's Catholic cardinals to keep the Catholic Church's strong pro-life position against such practices as euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research.
Ratzinger will have big shoes to fill as Pope John Paul II will be remembered for helping to usher in the fall of communism and for his strong defense of the church's pro-life views.
In
September, shortly before the presidential elections in the United States,
Ratzinger authored a document saying Catholic voters should not support
candidates who back legal abrotion.
It noted that a "Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation
in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he
were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of a candidate's
permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia."
Ratzinger has also taken a strong position against human cloning and
embryonic stem cell research.
In October, he said human cloning is more dangerous to the sanctity
of human life than weapons of mass destruction.
"Man is capable of producing another man in the laboratory who,
therefore, is no longer a gift of God or of nature. He can be fabricated
and, just as he can be fabricated, he can be destroyed," Ratzinger
said.
Ratzinger, who was the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, said the power that human cloning gives to mankind, to
be able to create and destroy human life so easily, proves "he
is becoming a more dangerous threat than weapons of mass destruction."
White smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and the tolling of bells signaled the election of a new Pope for the Catholic Church on Tuesday.
Ratzinger was elected on just four or vote ballots and only 24 hours after the beginning of the conclave, the secret voting process. Observers say that means the cardinals were quickly able to unite around a candidate to lead world's Catholics.
As
tens of thousands of people congregated in St. Peter's Square, the bells
continued to chime for 10 minutes after they first began.
