By NYO Staff 4/25/05 12:00am

A Troubling Choice: The Pope With a Past

In speedy fashion, the princes of the Catholic Church have chosen the German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to fill the shoes of John Paul II. The contrast is startling: As a young man, John Paul defied the Nazi occupiers of his native Poland, choosing to go underground rather than collaborate by his silence. But the young Read More

By Terry Golway 4/25/05 12:00am

Meet The Pope! For Benedict XVI, A Wary Welcome

When New York’s Al Smith, the first Catholic Presidential candidate in the nation’s history, lost the 1928 election, comedians said that Smith sent a one-word telegram to the Pope: “Unpack.”

With the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the 265th Bishop of Rome, one New York priest joked that he’d sent a similar message to Read More