Where is the hope and joy?

Just a note to tell you how sad, upset and angry I am at the news that the cardinals have elected Josef Ratzinger as the new pope.

Already our media here in Canada, while covering the excitement of some in St. Peter's Square that there is a new pope, are also giving coverage to the great disappointment experienced by many. I have already received one e-mail from a woman who said that there is now no room for her in the church and she now can't do anything but leave.

Other activists within the church, working and praying for some change in the direction of church leadership, are likewise expressing deep sadness coupled with anger. As someone said, "If there is a Holy Spirit she certainly wasn't present at this conclave!"

Ratzinger showed his colours as head of the "Holy Office" by the "manner in which he treated any theologian who expressed dissent over his authorship of "Dominus Jesus", a document which indicated his narrow view of ecumenism.

Where is emphasis on Gaudium et Sloes, which held so much of Vatican II's dream and vision for a relevant church in the modern world? Where are the open windows that good Pope John Paul II spoke about? I tear that while JPII effectively closed many of them, the history of this present pope indicates that they'll probably be slammed and sealed shut.

From Ratzinger's past history I believe that "we, the church." are in for more condemnations and anathemas and a shoring up of the pre-Vatican II post-Tridentine walls to protect the institution from the evils of the modern world. And if this is the best the cardinals could do, then there is little hope for the church to be prophetic with regard to a response to the poverty and inequality due to globalization, or concerning the AIDS pandemic that will continue to plague our world, or to the valuing of the equality of women in decision-making within the church, or in the much needed renewal of various forms of ministry within the institution, or with regard to the respect for diversity in sexual orientation within the church community.

Alex Campbell

Ottawa

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