# We got a new Pope, and I don't feel any different. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182 "2005-04-20T02:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/1 "2005-04-20T02:55:43Z")
I thought it’d be a more exciting process, from a fascination standpoint. Am I the only one feeling let down? I am not asking this on the basis of _who_ was elected, but the fact that it only took two days. No drama at all, AFAIC. I wanted to see rooves get ripped off, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@The\_Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hook)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/2 "2005-04-20T03:25:21Z")
Personally, I wanted to see when they announced the name of the next Pope was written in the back of the Declaration of Independence. Would’ve been fun. On the light side, those who were terribly stricken by John Paul II’s death and mourned on the Vatican lot are happy again! Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/3 "2005-04-20T03:36:03Z")
Quoting here… It don’t mean shit to a tree. Nor to me either. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/4 "2005-04-20T03:49:26Z")
I thought it was interesting to watch, but that’s primarily because I was born shortly after JPII took the papacy. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/5 "2005-04-20T04:01:56Z")
Last I saw, Paddy Power dot com was giving 9-2 odds on the now Pope Benedict XVI, second best odds after Cardinal Arinze from Nigeria (at 3-1, I believe). Anyone know if that was about where that wound up? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/6 "2005-04-20T04:25:07Z")
When I heard the German candidate won, I thought “That’s pretty interesting”. There hasn’t been a german in that position in…500 years? Other then that, I don’t particulary care. I’m not catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/7 "2005-04-20T04:43:33Z")
I’m having a hard time thinking of him as Benedict XVI. I keep refering to him as Ratzinger. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/8 "2005-04-20T05:10:11Z")
I thought it was great. We’re having a mass of thanksgiving tonight to celebrate Pope Benedict’s election. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@The\_Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hook)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/9 "2005-04-20T05:37:42Z")
Mazinger Z elected Pope. Coming soon: Astroboy. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/10 "2005-04-20T05:43:37Z")
“Pope Benedict” is going to take some getting used to. In my lifetime we’ve had a John, a Paul and two John Pauls. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/11 "2005-04-20T05:52:21Z")
I’m conflicted (isn’t that what we’re supposed to say about these things?) Ratzniger-Benedict will push a strong “back to basics” platform, and I’m much too far on the wrong side of the Protestant Reformation (and the political spectrum) to agree with much of what he will say. On the other hand, there is a power to fundamentalism, and good can come from the Church reestablishing itself. I can’t speak for Africa, but I think that Latin America could benefit from a reinvigorated Church. If you think of the Church as the original labor union, it might stand to reason that a weakened Church is a very bad thing for the poor in Latin America, and I don’t think that the protestant/charismatic churches that are on the rise will have as much power to improve the lives of the poor. They also don’t have the track record of being there for the millenia to come, and they don’t have Jesuits that take bullets in the name of the oppressed. Also, there’s a lot about the Catholic faith that I admire, and I personally don’t want to see the Catholic Church not be an important part of Western life. I guess that I’m hoping that more ‘Cafeteria Catholics’ start playing a role in the Church, even if just to bitch about the BS that the Pope is saying. OTOH, maybe I should drink less coffee… ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/12 "2005-04-20T05:56:37Z")
I’m not Catholic, so yeah, it doesn’t mean a great deal to me. There’s just the weirdness of getting used to Pope Benedict, since JP2 was the only pope of my lifetime up to this point. I expect that it will probably be much the same when the Queen finally dies - I don’t care much about the monarchy one way or the other, but it’ll be strange having King Charles/King William/whoever. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/13 "2005-04-20T10:19:42Z")
I’m an Episcopalian who had the opportunity and some incentive to convert to Catholicism once (I was engaged to a Catholic) and I really don’t care. I don’t like a lot of what I’ve been told his policies are, but then again, if I did, I might have converted. Of course, my city is heavily Catholic, so there’s been pretty much non-stop coverage since Pope John Paul II’s health began to fail seriously. I was somewhat bemused when the morning news reported a local Catholic college (St. Vincent’s) had a connection to the current Pope because their founder was from the same part of Bavaria as he was. By that logic, chances are their reporter has a connection to Queen Elizabeth! The Catholics have a new Pope. That’s great, but in terms of how much difference it will make to me, the Episcopal Church’s new bishop in New Hampshire a couple of years ago (the one who’s openly gay) made a far bigger difference and was a far bigger deal. CJ ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/14 "2005-04-20T11:20:52Z")
Meet the new Pope, same as the old Pope. C’mon, you didn’t _really_ think the black guy was going to win, did you? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/15 "2005-04-20T11:42:49Z")
The laid-backedness of the business of electing the pope was a little odd, particularly since it came just a week or so after the very laid-back marriage of Charles and Camilla. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/16 "2005-04-20T12:20:59Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Quoting here… > > It don’t mean shit to a tree. > > Nor to me either. But…but…the Pope has a _magic hat_! It saves you from the _fires of Hell_! Where’s the love for Mr. Magic Hat? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/17 "2005-04-20T12:56:03Z")
The main thing for me is remembering JPII’s election – back when I was a wet-behind-the-ears grad student. Damn, that’s a long time ago. And, yeah, “Pope Benedict” will take some getting used to. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/18 "2005-04-20T15:17:13Z")
Well, you look different. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/19 "2005-04-20T15:35:58Z")
I stopped shaving my head about two months ago. You’re the first one to notice. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182/20 "2005-04-20T19:15:55Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > “Pope Benedict” is going to take some getting used to. In my lifetime we’ve had a John, a Paul and two John Pauls. At least you’ve seen other popes. I’m too young to remember Paul VI or John Paul I, so for as long as I can remember, whenever anyone referred to “the pope”, they meant John Paul II. So, it’s really weird saying “the pope” and meaning Benedict XVI. And probably, by the time I’m used to Benedict XVI, he’ll check out, and the same thing will start all over again! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-got-a-new-pope-and-i-dont-feel-any-different/300182.md?page=2)