An image problem, but he can overcome it

People should be truly open-minded and adopt a wait-and-see attitude, writes Breda O'Brien

Rather incongruously, a line from a pop song by Yazz and the Plastic Population started echoing around my brain when Joseph Ratzinger was announced as Pope. For those of you not familiar with these cultural icons, the line was, "The only way is up."

If ever we needed proof that the Catholic Church does not make decisions based on opinion polls, it was embodied in the gently smiling figure of Pope Benedict XV1. This Pope will have no media honeymoon. Never in recent history has a Pope been announced who has such a firmly established public image, and a negative one at that.

He has never given any indication that he worries about his profile, but he may take some comfort from the fact that public expectation is so low,that indeed, the only way is up.

Coming from a position where he has been caricatured as the Vatican Rottweiler, the fact that he does not have horns and a tail will be enough to surprise some people.

If he allows the wit and charm emerge in public that to date have only been seen in privacy, he will win many people over. The fact remains, though, that for many people, at least for the moment, this Pope will be seen as catastrophic.

I would be lying through my teeth if I said that Joseph Ratzinger was my preferred candidate. I had hoped for someone from the developing world, perhaps a dark-skinned pope who would give impetus to a campaign for justice in trade and debt relief.

However, I am not as shattered by this announcement as some people I know, for two reasons. First, no matter who the next pope was, it was unlikely that there would be major shifts in policy on controversial issues.

The Catholic Church moves slowly and takes great care to discern whether some demand from the public is just a passing fad or signals an authentic need for change.

Second, I believe that this is more than a political election, and that the office changes the man. Put it this way: the Holy Spirit has steered the Catholic Church through far more hair-raising moments than this.

Some of the things that the media will throw at him will be easily disposed of, for example, his alleged association with Hitler Youth. The reality is that he was registered against his will as a member, and despite the fact that attendance at meetings would have given him a reduction in tuition fees which he badly needed, he could not bring himself to attend.

His father was an anti-Nazi policeman. The only significant complaint against Ratzinger in wartime is that his resistance was quiet and passive, rather than something which would have earned him time in a concentration camp. As the Jerusalem Post pointed out this week, the same could be said of many Jews.

The Post writer dismissed charges of anti-Semitism against Joseph Ratzinger, saying that he played a deeply important role in Pope John Paul's historic reconciliation with the Jews. The writer went on, "If that's theological anti-Semitism, then we should only be so lucky to 'suffer' more of the same."

Joseph Ratzinger is also a man of courage, unafraid to say the unpopular thing. For example, he spoke out strongly last November against the jailing for a month of a Swedish Protestant pastor for preaching about what the Bible says about homosexuality.

In a La Reppublica interview, he commented that if such things happen, "secularism is no longer that element of neutrality that opens up spaces of freedom for all."

Many fair-minded people recognise that true pluralism must have space for all, including believers. Pope Benedict will be a voice calling for recognition of the Christian contribution to Europe. The day before John Paul died, the future Pope Benedict said: "We need roots to survive, and wemust not lose sight of them if we do not want human dignity to disappear."

Whether his current image will militate against his voice being heard remains to be seen. Yet if people are truly open-minded they will adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Popes have a habit of surprising, and Pope Benedict will probably be no exception.