As the Church?s keeper of doctrinal correctness for more than a quarter of a century, he was the enforcer to John Paul II?s communicator. Now he is Pope how will Benedict XVI face up to his fragmented flock?

WAS IT white or was it black? It looked grey and wispy at first and indistinct against the leaden sky but it was getting whiter and stronger with every second. The promised bells were not sounding but the smoke was enough to send people rushing towards St Peter?s Square. Tourists, Roman families, nuns and priests dashed down the Via della Conciliazione to the piazza to join the many thousands already in the square. The smoke was still pouring out of the narrow chimney perched on the tiled roof of the Sistine Chapel and now it was unmistakeably white.

?Habemus Papam?, one young Brazilian priest shouted, and some 15 minutes later he was proved right when the great bells of St Peter?s began to sound. On the balcony of St Peter?s Basilica, the senior cardinal deacon ?- Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez stepped forward to confirm ?Habemus Papam?. The first discernible name he spoke was ?Joseph?. It was then that the crowd ? and the world ? knew. Joseph Ratzinger, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the man who had worked beside John Paul II for more than 20 years, now stepped on to the balcony to give his first blessing ? Urbi et Orbi ? to the city and the world.

While many in the crowds in St Peter?s Square roared and cheered their approval, their views were not universally shared. Joseph Ratzinger has a reputation as a fierce and divisive figure ? someone who as prefect of the CDF did not hesitate to censure or excommunicate individuals deemed to have strayed from the straight and narrow doctrinal path. To many, his soubriquets ? the Iron or Panzer Cardinal, God?s rottweiler, were apt.

But by choosing him, the cardinal-electors signalled they were unfazed by this reputation and elevated a man widely recognised as one of the finest theologians of his generation and one of Pope John Paul?s most senior and trusted advisers, while at the Pope?s funeral he also revealed a pastoral side.

As Dean of the College of Cardinals, he had presided at John Paul II?s requiem, then the daily general congregations of cardinals and finally the Conclave itself, which led to the swift decision of his peers that he was the man who should be pope. According to one report, he had intervened as many as five times during the congregations to suggest, to warn, to recommend, to repeat, to insist that the Cardinals do not speak to the media, even before the conclave with its strict vow of secrecy had begun.

In the run-up to the conclave, secret meetings of cardinals were taking place to discuss personalities and strategies, although some of those from far-flung countries felt left out when they did not know who was meeting when and where and with whom. That isolation in turn raised anxieties about whether some of the Africans or Asians might be left vulnerable to the curial lobbying for Ratzinger. The campaigning of those wanting a more progressive papal candidate was uncoordinated, and the Latin Americans, once rumoured to hold the future pope among their number, were hampered by not having the economic resources to come with secretaries or back-up teams. They had no organisation, no plan and no candidate.

According to the Italian press, Cardinal Martini (Italy), who had returned to Rome from a retreat he was giving in the desert, found himself unwillingly drawn into the fray, as a stalking horse or candidato di bandiera to test out how much support there was for the agenda of the riformisti as opposed to the integristi ? terms which approximately correspond to progressives and conservatives. It seemed a good plan at the time and may have failed on the grounds that while they are both 78, Martini has Parkinson?s and is now walking with a stick.

By Tuesday evening, groups such as We Are Church and individuals who have been admonished by Cardinal Ratzinger were voicing their shock and dismay at the election. His friends, however, believe that the new Pope has been much maligned. He is, they say, a genial and kindly professor. His biographer, the journalist John Allen, says he is ?the most humble, gracious and un-careerist man you will ever meet?. Certainly Cardinal Ratzinger has until now lived quietly and modestly. It was his habit to walk from his flat near St Anne?s Gate outside the Vatican to his office across St Peter?s Square. He does not drive or use a computer. He likes to set aside 15 minutes each afternoon to play the piano ? Mozart and Beethoven are particular favourites.

Pope Benedict XVI was born on 16 April 1927 at Marktl am Inn in Germany. His father was a policeman and his family from traditional farming stock in Lower Bavaria. His was an early vocation but his studies for the priesthood were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. As a teenage seminarian, his school enrolled him in the Hitler Youth Programme, though he records in his memoirs that he did not enjoy the meetings and stopped attending after a short time. In 1943 he was called up and served for a year in the auxiliary anti-aircraft service which tracked Allied bombardments. He spent some time in an American prisoner-of-war camp at the end of the war.

From 1946 he was able to resume his studies and was ordained in 1951. He received a doctorate and a licentiate in theology from the University of Munich with a thesis entitled: ?The People and the House of God in St Augustine?s doctrine of the Church?. He qualified as a university teacher in 1957, and went on to hold teaching posts at a number of unversities including T?bingen from 1966-69 where he was also dean.

Cardinal Ratzinger had a reputation as a progressive at T?bingen where he worked alongside the Swiss theologian, Hans K?ng. Both were chosen by the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne, Joseph Frings, to be consulters at the Second Vatican Council. A turning point in Ratzinger?s thinking seems to have occurred during the student revolt at T?bingen in 1968, the violence of which horrified him. He moved to the University of Regensburg where he remained until 1977.

By then Cardinal Ratzinger was a highly regarded theologian who had published several major books, the best-known being Introduction to Christianity ? a collection of university lessons on the profession of apostolic faith. He had been a member of the International Theological Commission since 1969. Eight years later, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Munich and Freising and a year later he was made a cardinal. It was around this time that Ratzinger denounced Hans K?ng for questioning papal infallibility. K?ng lost his licenceship to teach at a Catholic university and his professorship at T?bingen. ?The Christian believer is a simple person: bishops should protect the faith of these little people against the power of intellectuals,? said Ratzinger in a sermon on 31 December 1979.

But it was under the next pontificate that he attained a position of real influence in the Church. Cardinal Ratzinger had got to know the future pope ? when both were members of the world-wide Synod of Bishops that advises the Pope. John Paul II made him Prefect of the CDF in 1981 and the next 23 years cemented Raztinger?s reputation as a stern upholder of doctrinal correctness. A succession of theologians found themselves silenced or excommunicated. The latest was earlier this year, a Jesuit, Roger Haight, was banned from teaching Catholic theology after writing a book which appeared to question the divinity of Jesus.

The future pope?s concerns about what he considers the wayward trends in modern culture were well illustrated in his homily at the Mass ?Pro Eligendo Romano Pontefice?, or the Mass for the election of the next pope at St Peter?s Basilica, when he delivered a litany of ?isms? to be resisted including Marxism, liberalism, radical individualism, atheism and a ?vague religious mysticism?.

At the Mass Cardinal Ratzinger appeared to be suffering from a cold, coughing occasionally and sounding hoarse. There was one report earlier in the year that he suffers from blackouts but, at a time when wild rumours about the health of cardinals have been circulating, it is impossible to determine whether it should be taken seriously. What is well attested is that in September 1991, he suffered a cerebral haemorrage that affected his left field of vision. The following August he fell against a radiator, was knocked unconscious and lost a lot of blood. Perhaps after the long and eventful tenure of John Paul II, Benedict XVI will be a pope of transition.

Of his predecessor?s greatness, Pope Benedict is not in doubt. The two were close and met weekly to discuss the state of the Church. A Vatican official said once they were two pieces of a puzzle. So now we are left with the one piece. How will the enforcer get on without the great communicator? Will we have an Iron Pope? The former Cardinal Ratzinger disliked his image. ?I?m not the Grand Inquisitor,? he once said. Now his actions more than his words will determine how he is judged as pope.

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