Brad

My answer was not to say which side of the issue is the correct one. In fact for Protestants it is probably a lot more comfortable to have Ratizinger as pope, rather than a more reform minded pope.
However, a movement like ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) probably would not have started in the first place if there had been a reform minded pope in office.
After all, can you see a conservative Christian like JI Packer involved with ECT with a reform minded pope?

The bottom line however to me is that the election of Ratizinger as pope is all part of God's sovereign plan.

Tom