Vatican City, Apr 20, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The choice of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger for Pope was clear “almost from the beginning,” Francis Cardinal George of Chicago told the press yesterday.
His grasp of world history and track record of protecting the faith for the past 24 years have prepared Pope Benedict XVI to lead in a time of worldwide cultural transitions, Cardinal George said in a news conference at the Pontifical North American College following the new Pope’s first mass.
When Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope 26 years ago, some of the most difficult challenges to the Church's mission came from the East, said the cardinal.
"Twenty-six years later, the most difficult challenges to the Church's mission come from the West. There is a man now very well prepared who understands Western society and the history of the world," he said.