Salon.com | "The church will continue to suffer":

Andrew Greeley:

"Women -- and not only in the United States -- are very angry at the church. It is no exaggeration to say that many of them, devout Catholics to the core, will tell you they hated John Paul because he hated women."

Othewise known as "people who are insane".

"He will have to put off his persona as stats professor and put on his persona as a parish priest."

A Stats Professor? Wow, that's a very strange comment. It kind of makes sense since Greeley is a sociologist and sociologist spend a lot of time studying statistics. I wonder if he's refering to his colleagues or his old professors.

Frances Kissling:

"I can no longer delude myself about these princes’ almost total lack of interest in healing the divide in the Church, in showing compassion for or even in listening to the voices of the suffering. The time for nuance is over. Let the unholy war begin."

Was the manuevering she did after the election was tactical and not a real change of heart? I think you've already been fighting the bad fight for a lot of years ma'am.

"Mary Segers, professor of political science at Rutgers University"

"Ratzinger thinks that since Europe has Christian roots, by definition you can't admit a Muslim country into the European Union. That worries me more than anything else, because I think that one of the tasks the next pope must undertake is making some sort of outreach to Islam."

Huh? I guess this is a reference to Turkey.

EurActiv.com tells us:

"In an interview with Le Figaro in 2004, Ratzinger expressed his clear view on one of the most divisive issues facing the EU: 'Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe,' he was quoted as saying."

But it's not that surprising that their's controversy over Turkey. That's why they're not members already. And we all know how much weight Catholic views get in the EU. Remember the controversy over the preamble to the constitution. Then there was the EU presidency candidate who was "outed" as a Catholic and forced to step aside.

"James Martin, Jesuit priest, associate editor of America magazine and author of 'In Good Company'"

"While I trust that the Holy Spirit will be helping Pope Benedict XVI over the next few years, I would be lying if I didn't say how disappointed I was by the cardinals' selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope. To my mind, there were many other candidates who had more pastoral experience, who have been more open to dialogue with other religions, and who have demonstrated more sensitivity to the thoughtful questioning that has always characterized Christian theology. But the cardinals quickly settled on a man who would forcefully continue John Paul's approach to governing the church. I can only pray that Pope Benedict proves to be more tolerant and open-minded than Cardinal Ratzinger was. But stranger things have happened in the Catholic Church, and I am hoping that the God of Surprises will surprise all of us."

But of course theologians who have worked with Ratzinger say just that about him, that he's open to questioning. And the World Jewish Congress and the Traditional Anglican Communion both have commented on how open to interfaith discussion he is. Oh, but you wanted him to be open to Liberal discussion.

There's a lot more nonsense later on in the article. For instance that he left Tubingen because of student unrest, which is true but unremarkable. Would you want to teach theology with Marxists sitting-in during your classes? Not a productive use of ones time. But I'm bored with it.