He seems to be a bit muddled in some of his opinions and doesn't seem to mind contradicting himself. [link|http://clevershark.com/index.php?entry=987|E.g.]:

The problem with Ratzinger comes mostly from what he has said. His pronouncements on Islam have been all over the place and often contradictory. Similarly, the many positions he appears to have taken on secularism lead one to be confused as to where the new Pope stands on the issue -- if he criticizes Islam for mixing religion and politics, why does he then turn around and demand that Christianity be declared the cornerstone of European civilization? In the "Dominus Jesus" of 2000 he asserts that Christianity (and of course Catholicism) is the one true faith, but [link|http://www.cathnews.com/news/203/19.php|shortly thereafter he denies it]. One may well wonder where the new Pope will lead the Church's dialogue with Islam, and even whether that dialogue will continue at all.

However, it is Ratzinger's less ambivalent opinions that make him bad news for the Church. He has already condemned homosexuality as "an intrinsic moral evil", and has backed up that opinion with action that speaks of callousness and mean-spiritedness, going as far as to [link|http://www.soulforce.org/main/catholics.shtml|prohibit an American priest and nun from ministering to gays and lesbians]. He is also on the record as honestly claiming that [link|http://www.rainbownation.it/gayworld/gayworld_en.asp?Section=both&tipo=culture&subsect=homophobia&Id=8|homosexuality is a threat to Christian peoples, seeing homosexuality as a "disease" that needs an ecumenical cure (!), and that getting "converted" away from "gayness" is just like any other "conversion from evil"]. Not exactly a progressive mind at work there. Ratzinger quotes Leviticus liberally in support of those opinions. One may be left to wonder whether the new Pope will also quote liberally from Leviticus as he upholds [link|http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/Leviticus1.html|the traditions of sacrificing oxen for the Lord, selling one's daughter into slavery, purchasing slaves, not eating shellfish, murdering those who opt to work on the Sabbath, etc. because all these subjects are also covered in Leviticus]. Most interesting is the prohibited behaviour of cutting one's hair around the temples, and shaving. Most photos of Mr. Ratzinger seem to indicate that he fails to follow the teachings of Leviticus in at least that one aspect.

Also of interest is his insistence that [link|http://www.tldm.org/news6/Ratzinger.htm|those who deviate from the Church's doctrine should be denied communion]. This was done in a secret letter to US cardinals in 2004, and would seem to have been engineered expressly in order to provide a secret boot to Republican party candiates in the election that took place at that time. It seems that while Islam should be condemned for mixing politics with religion, there is no problem when this is done by a Catholic Cardinal. At least we now know that Benedict XVI is no less of a hypocrite than his predecessors.

[...]



FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.