I like Pope Benedict.
I'm German-American, eligible for German citizenship. Having a pope with whom I can share language and ethnicity feels very good. I've started attending a Catholic church in Chicago -- St. Alphonsus -- where mass is still held in German. St. Alphonsus is located at the intersection of Lincoln Ave. and Wellington Ave. (and hosts a terrific Oktoberfest!). It was in this neighborhood -- Lakeview -- that my grandparents settled after immigrating from Germany. Thus, I am very pleased to have a German pope. Perhaps we will be honored by a visit from Pope Benedict in the future!
German-Americans suffered greatly during the period of WWI & WWII. Much German culture was lost in the U.S. due to widespread oppression of Germans and German-Americans in the states. Chicago, once predominantly German, has very nearly extinguished its German culture. I am very pleased that Pope Benedict will help revive the German-American community, as John Paul II helped sustain and grow the Polish-American community here.
I realize that others on dKos have strong reservations about a conservative pope, especially as pertains to certain issues; however, I hope that Pope Benedict's efforts to promote peace and spiritual study in the world will go a long way towards remedying some of the world's current tensions. I also hope that his fluency in many languages will help stimulate the desire in American Catholics and others to become multi-lingual, so that "hyphenated Americans" can recover their ancestral tongues and learn others. "English-only" churches are not very much fun, IMHO!"
I think the movement in American churches to oppress services in Latin, German, Scandinavian and other languages, has helped to exacerbate tensions between the U.S. and other European countries over the years. I believe that the loss of ancestral languages has contributed to American's recent hypernationalism and isolationism.
Readers interested in learning the history of St. Benedict, may go here. I am pleased that Cardinal Ratzinger took this name.
I'm interested in your comments about this article in the U.K. Telegraph, Vatican ready to sacrifice Taiwan for China. Could a recognized Catholic presence in China help the nation recover from human rights abuses? What impact would the "pro-life" movement have in "one-child China?"
BTW, Chicago-area Lutherans interested in German church services may be interested to know that St. John's on Montrose holds a German service at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.