Here & There . . .

• Are you happy with the choice of Benedict XVI?" - A poll by Busted Halo.

• Reactions to Pope Benedict XVI: An Ecumenical Roundup compiled by Nathan Nelson (Fides, Spes, Caritas).

• Catholic Publisher Owns New Pope's Work, by Kim Curtiss. Associated Press. April 22, 2005. Congratulations to Fr. Fessio and the 13-member staff of Ignatius Press, the United States' "largest publisher and distributor of Catholic books, magazines and videos" -- they've labored hard to publish Cardinal Ratzinger's works in English. Let them now enjoy the fruits of his election.

• An Open Letter to Maureen Dowd, from Amy Welborn. April 23, 2005.

• PopeBenedict16.Blogspot.com

• "New Pope's books knock out bestselling Da Vinci Code". Cathnews.com. April 22, 2005.

• Romanitas - "An exploration into the deeper meaning and Roman contextualities of speeches, homilies, documents etc. of our Holy Father Benedict XVI and his Curia." From the author who brought you .

• How would the New York Times have covered the "election" of Jesus Christ as Messiah? -- The Seventh Age passes along an amusing parody that's been circulating via email.

• Veritas! - The new pope and old truths, by Jana Novak. National Review Online. April 20, 2005. The daughter of Michael Novak, defends Pope Benedict XVI and the Church against Fr. McBrien and other critics. (Jana co-authored a book with her father back in '98 titled Tell Me Why: A Father Answers His Daughter's Questions about God. Nice to see her in print. =)

• When it comes to innuendos of Cardinal Ratzinger, German Catholics and collaboration with the Nazis -- such as those made by Matthew Fox, Peter Sean Bradley reminds us that placing events in context is critical for understanding history. In a follow-up post, Peter raises the point of the (much overlooked) opposition to the Nazis by German Catholic clergy.

"Ratzinger Fan Club" in the news:

• Rome won’t be rebuilt in a day, by Owen Dudley Edwards. Sunday Herald April 23, 2005:
  "PUTTING the smackdown on heresy since 1981!" howls the Ratzinger Fan Club, advertising its T-shirt on the website to which internet searchers for data on the new Pope are automatically referred. It doesn’t need a papal pronouncement to tell Catholics that this celebration of a theology of hatred, anger and zeal for injury is wholly contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

  Methinks Mr. Edwards underestimates the humorous side of the RFC and its satirical intent.

• Area boy's gift made cardinal laugh, by Shane Anthony. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. April 19, 2005. Interview with Chris Haenel, a fellow 'member' of the RFC, who met the Cardinal and presented him with a shirt during an October 2003 visit to Rome by Una Voce:
  Chris, then a freshman at Duchesne High School in St. Charles, already had studied Ratzinger and papal politics. He said he liked Ratzinger's conservative stands on moral issues. He gave Ratzinger a T-shirt he bought from an online fan club.

  On the front, it read "The Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club. Putting the smackdown on heresy since 1981." Ratzinger was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and combating heresy was part of his job.

  Ratzinger laughed at the shirt, Chris said, but said he couldn't keep it because he couldn't be his own fan. When he flipped over the shirt to find a quote attributed to him - "Truth is not determined by a majority vote" - he laughed again and said, "That's true. That's true." Chris still has the shirt.

• Pope's Website Crashes, Agençe France-Presse. April 20, 2005. A case of mistaken identity, as I believe www.vatican.va was up and running.

And on other topics . . .

• Prayer for the Canonization of John Paul the Great from Catholic Ragemonkey.

• Amy Welborn has started a StoryBlog, exclusively devoted to her fiction.

• St. Augustine and Sola Scriptura by Jamie Blosser in a magnificent refutation of a Protestant exploitation of Augustine to argue for the primacy of scripture against ecclesial tradition.

  More musings on the doctrine of sola scriptura by Pontifications: "The Church does not come to the Scriptures as a stranger", a continuation of an exchange with a reader here.

• BlogsForTerri is continuing with the fight against euthanasia. The latest topic in this case being Clara Martinez, Taran Francis and Charlotte Wyatt.