In U.S., a Mix of Joy, Disappointment, Cautious Hope

When Father Marcos Gonzalez of St. Andrew’s Church in Pasadena heard that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, he let out a whoop of joy. The new Pope Benedict XVI, he thought, would be sure to proclaim and defend traditional teachings.

When Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of a Maryland-based Catholic ministry to promote the rights of gay men and lesbians, heard the news, her heart fell. Under Ratzinger, who hails from Germany, the church’s doctrinal watchdog body had ordered her to permanently halt all work with homosexuals, and she feared that his ascension signaled what she views as continued marginalization of gays and women.

Reflecting the church’s deep divisions, American Catholics greeted the election of the new pope Tuesday with delight, dismay -- and hopes that showed their own ideological leanings.

“Whether deserved or not, his reputation is that of a polarizing figure,” Father Richard McBrien, chairman of the University of Notre Dame’s theology department, said of the new pope. Now, the priest said, “he must be a unifier and healer ... not the source of more divisions.”

The mixed reviews were apparent at places such as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. There, church bells pealed exuberantly as 400 people gathered for noon Mass and workers decorated the cavernous entrance to the sanctuary with bunting in papal gold and white. On hearing the news, staff members broke into smiles and hugged.

“I’m so happy,” said Atwater Village resident Remy Buado. “I cried. I jumped. I’m hoping he is somebody for the good of the people.”

But other Mass-goers were more skeptical.

Kevin Coleman, 67, a retired executive recruiter from South Pasadena, had hoped for a sign of change -- more forgiveness on the issue of divorce, for instance.

“I would have liked somebody younger and more in touch with the full world,” he said.

Msgr. Royale Vadakin, who celebrated the Mass, advised worshipers to reserve judgment, saying it might take a year for the papacy’s direction to become clear. He also reminded people that the grandfatherly Pope John XXIII had initially appeared as a caretaker but ended up leading the historic reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Several Catholics around the country expressed hope that Pope Benedict might turn out to be more conciliatory than Cardinal Ratzinger.

Sister Christine Schenk is executive director of a Catholic group, FutureChurch, promoting married clergy and female priests. She said that only a conservative theologian of Benedict’s stature could approach those issues without exacerbating church divisions.

“He could bring along the traditional segment of the church and open up the discussion of optional celibacy,” Schenk said. “There’s room everywhere for the Holy Spirit to work her wisdom.”

Father James L. Fredericks, a theology professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said the new pope might have chosen the name “Benedict” to signal a new course of moderation and healing. The last pope with that name, Benedict XV (1914-22), pursued such a route after the hard-line papacy of Pius X, Fredericks said.

“Prepare to be surprised,” he added. “I’m not sure that Joe Ratzinger and Benedict XVI are the same person.”

But Father Joseph Fessio, provost of the conservative Ave Maria University in Florida, had two words for such speculation: Dream on.

“All those people who are waiting for some big change will have to wait a few more years,” said Fessio, who studied under Ratzinger as a doctoral student in West Germany in the 1970s and has continued to meet regularly with his mentor. He said that the German cardinal and Pope John Paul II “thought with one mind” and that no major doctrinal changes would occur.

Like others who have met the new pope, Fessio said Benedict’s public persona as “God’s Rottweiler” who attacks dissenters failed to capture his gentleness and graciousness.

In other religious communities, Benedict’s election drew both praise and wariness.

Rabbi James Rosen, Jerusalem-based head of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, said many Jews were distressed a few years ago when the Vatican released a document, Dominus Iesus, that appeared to reassert the supremacy of Catholic teachings as the sole path to salvation.

But then-Cardinal Ratzinger took pains soon after to affirm the bonds between Judaism and Christianity, Rosen added. Benedict is sensitive to the Holocaust and anti-Semitism because of his German background, Rosen said.

Mark Bailey, president of the interdenominational Dallas Theological Seminary, said Ratzinger’s comments that salvation was available only through Catholicism were “potentially inflammatory statements for anyone who is not part of the Catholic Church. But maybe we haven’t heard enough from him. A few quotes, a man does not make.”

The Rev. John H. Thomas, president of the 1.3 million-member United Church of Christ, said in a statement that he greeted the selection with “profound disappointment.”

Ratzinger’s theological tone has been “rigid, conservative and confrontational,” Thomas said, expressing hope that the new pope would surprise the world with unanticipated gifts and graces.

In the pews, many Catholics said they were unfamiliar with Benedict’s precise theological leanings but welcomed him nonetheless.

At Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, some parishioners expressed disappointment that a Latin American or African was not elected. But others embraced Benedict’s devotion to Mary and said his long Vatican experience would help him handle such problems as the priest shortage, poverty and the loss of Latin American Catholics to Protestant evangelical churches.

Jean Forbath, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa who wants more discussion on such issues as married priests, said she would suspend judgment for now.

“I was hoping for a breath of fresh air, a dramatic choice that could give the spark of life to the church,” said Forbath, who founded Share Our Selves, an anti-poverty group. “But we have to give him time. Sometimes the job shapes the man.”

Times staff writers K. Connie Kang and Jennifer Delson contributed to this report.