Hurriyet

The Catholic world finally has its new pope. Yesterday, 78 year old German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen by the 115 Cardinals sequestered in the Sistine Chapel as the Catholic Church's 265th pope. A conservative protector of the Catholic Church's doctrines, Ratzinger has chosen the Papal name "Benedict" for himself, making him Pope Benedict XVI.
 

The Cardinal that didn't want Turkey
 
As a Cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger made it plain he was against Turkey's admission to the EU. Ratzinger, who is also the first German pope to be elected in a thousand years, in an official Vatican correspondence wrote once that the EU was a Christian organization, and in doing so took a firm and open stance against Turkey's membership in the EU.
 
Nazi Youth Activity
 
Biographies of Ratzinger attest that when he was 14 years old, in 1941, he was forced to join a Nazi Youth organization. Before long however, his membership was cancelled due to his increasing work in the Catholic church. Two years later though, Ratzinger was taken in to help with the Nazi anti-aircraft effort. A year after this, he was sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to help with setting up tank barriers. On returning to Germany, he was captured as a prisoner of war by American forces. When let free, he returned to the priesthood, which wartime had forced him to leave off.
 
Not like John Paul II in his own country
 
Unlike Pope John Paul II in his home country Poland, Ratzinger finds a Germany divided in two where his popularity is concerned. A poll in Der Spiegel magazine showed 36% of the responders against his accession to the papacy, while only 29% supported it. Ratzinger is also known have made enemies of many of the leading religious figures in his own country. Born on April 16, 1927 in Catholic-stronghold Bavaria, Ratzinger is a very good pianist and a Mozart lover.
 
Ratzinger stance on Turkey's EU Membership causes tension
 
Ratzinger's stance on possible Turkish accession to the EU has been the cause of polemics between him and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. In an interview last August with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Ratzinger was quoted as saying, "Turkey, with its majority Muslim population, should look towards a future union with other Islamic countries, not with Christian-rooted EU." Turkish PM Erdogan, in response to Ratzinger's words, said "The Vatican is a religious state. It is not a member of the EU. We are engaged in talks with other EU member countries."