A 'humble worker'

VATICAN CITY -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a conservative German theologian who served for two decades as Pope John Paul II's chief enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy, yesterday was elected the 265th pope and chose the name Benedict XVI.

At 5:50 p.m. (11:50 a.m. EDT), wisps of white smoke began to emerge from the chimney pipe above the Sistine Chapel, and an eager crowd began to cheer. About 15 minutes later, the bells of St. Peter's Basilica began to peal, confirming that the college of cardinals had settled on a pontiff to lead the 1 billion-member church.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to the square as the news quickly spread. At 6:43 p.m., Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez of Chile, the senior cardinal deacon, emerged through a lush red curtain onto the papal balcony and pronounced the traditional words to start a papacy, ''Habemus Papam," Latin for ''We have a pope."

Ratzinger, a 78-year-old prelate who is one of the most controversial figures in the Catholic Church because of his hard-line stances against what he views as dissidence in the church, then appeared in his new papal white robes covered by a red cape. He beamed and waved his clasped hands.

''After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," Ratzinger said before blessing the crowd. ''I am consoled by the fact that the Lord knows how to act, even with inadequate instruments, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers."

The cardinals' choice of a new pope closely aligned with John Paul signaled their resolve that the church should stay on the traditional path that he established during his 26-year papacy.

Ratzinger became the pope as soon as he was elected, but the Vatican will hold a formal inauguration Mass for him at 10 a.m. Sunday at St. Peter's Basilica. Last night, Ratzinger had dinner with the cardinals and spent the night at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the new residence where the cardinals have stayed during the conclave. At 9 a.m. today, he is to preside at a Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel and to deliver the homily in Latin.

Ratzinger was elected with unusual speed by the 115 voting-age cardinals in attendance, who required just four ballots, one on Monday and three yesterday, before granting Ratzinger the required two-thirds majority.

''We worked really quickly and really well to choose a great new pope," Cardinal Josip Bozanic of Zagreb said in an interview.

Generally regarded as a brilliant theologian, Ratzinger is controversial because, in his role as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- successor to the office that oversaw heresy trials under the Roman Inquisition -- he has led a crackdown on dissenting theologians and has issued a series of doctrinal statements that have offended liberals, advocates of women's ordination, and adherents of some non-Christian faiths.

''His idea of church unity would be to achieve that unity through pruning the church, and purifying it of its supposed dissenters and outliers and liberals," said R. Scott Appleby, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame.

Ratzinger has many supporters, including a 31-year-old New York web designer, Christopher Blosser, who oversees an Internet fan club for Ratzinger, and they say Ratzinger has been unfairly demonized.

The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a student and friend of Ratzinger and the editor in chief of Ignatius Press, publisher of 25 books by Ratzinger, said of the new pope: ''Personally, he is gentle, serene, a good listener, with a sense of humor -- no one who has met him and worked with him has gone away anything except ennobled."

''Cardinal Ratzinger will present the truth -- he will not impose it -- but some will dislike it, and may dislike him as a result," said Fessio, also the chancellor of Ave Maria University in Florida. ''But the friends of Cardinal Ratzinger will be the friends of Jesus Christ, and those who are hostile to Cardinal Ratzinger will be hostile to Jesus Christ, because Cardinal Ratzinger will continue to preach the fullness of truth, which is Jesus."

Ratzinger also has many detractors.

''American Catholics will either be dismayed, confused, or overjoyed by this election," said Stephen J. Pope, a theologian at Boston College, who described Ratzinger as ''an aging German theologian with scant pastoral experience, a reputation for polarizing the laity, and little apparent concern with the basic needs of the poor majority of Catholics."

''A small percentage will be delighted to see that the policies and practices of John Paul II will be continued, though probably without John Paul II's charisma and communication skills," Pope said. ''Others will be dismayed over the election of the Vatican orthodoxy 'watchdog' known for his staunchly conservative and punitive attitude to those he deems dissenters."

Some of the most critical comments yesterday came from advocates of gay and lesbian rights, in part because in 2003 Ratzinger issued a statement opposing legal recognition of same-sex unions in which he declared, ''Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children."

''Today, the princes of the Roman Catholic Church elected as pope a man whose record has been one of unrelenting, venomous hatred for gay people," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Among Ratzinger's responsibilities in recent years has been deciding what the Vatican should do with the cases of hundreds of priests accused of sexually abusing minors. The pace of handling those cases, and defrocking some abusive priests, appears to have picked up recently, but Ratzinger has expressed some skepticism about the crisis, saying in December 2002, according to the Catholic news service Zenit, ''I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offenses among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower."

Victim advocates in the United States expressed concern about Ratzinger's record, but also said they hoped that he would act swiftly against abusive priests and negligent bishops. And James E. Post, the president of Voice of the Faithful, a lay reform group based in Newton, said ''Cardinal Ratzinger showed understanding of the importance of the sexual abuse issue" in meetings with members of the National Review Board of the US church.

Many in the crowd at St. Peter's Square were jubilant simply to have a new pope. As the white smoke emerged, they cheered and began chanting ''papa, papa, papa." After Ratzinger was named, they began chanting his new name in Italian, ''Benedetto" and cried ''Viva il Papa!"

''I'm very happy that Ratzinger has become the pope," said the Rev. Arbogast Mushi, 37, of Tanzania. ''I've been reading his homily, and he was attacking this tendency of trying to liberalize the church. I think he's the very person we are looking for."

Ratzinger was one of John Paul's closest aides. He was among the first to arrive at the pope's apartment on April 2, when John Paul died; and he delivered a much-praised homily at the late pope's funeral.

Ratzinger dominated the discussion between the pope's death and his election, thanks to his role as the dean of the college of cardinals, his closeness to John Paul, and his lengthy experience.

Because of his age, many observers expect him to be a transitional pope, maintaining John Paul's legacy, but not serving anywhere near as long as John Paul's 26-year-papacy.

Ratzinger made it clear as recently as Monday that he takes an unstinting view of the challenges facing the church. Before the conclave, in a homily at a Mass, he blasted what he described as ''a dictatorship of relativism . . . that recognizes nothing as definitive and that has as its measure only the self and its desires."

''He may be one of the most controversial newly-elected popes in history," said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. ''He has to show very early on in his pontificate that, without compromise of doctrine, he intends to be an inclusive pope who will be open to dialogue with all segments of the Church as well as of the world community itself. Otherwise, the Catholic Church is in for one of the most unpleasant, divisive patches in its modern history."

Globe correspondent Sofia Celeste in Rome contributed to this report. Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.