Where were you when Benedict was elected?

[hedgehog]

I was working a factory job where we had strictly limited lunch breaks and coffee breaks. I happened to be in the lunch room when the results were announced. Even though I was disappointed at the results, I did share some smiles with a woman who was a Bosnian refugee. We were both glad that a Pope had been elected.

[hrmjustin]

1. I was at home.

I remember being exited and then when they announced him I remembered why i joined the Episcopal Church.

[hedgehog]

2. Our pastor resigned shortly after the election. He is now an Episcopal pastor.

I crossed the Thames myself just before Christmas. One year of the new translation was more than I could take.

[47of74]

4. I remember a guy at church

He was not happy about the election of Benedict, and was thinking of converting out of the church. He stayed and lasted longer than I did in the church.

[47of74]

3. At home

I was sleeping at the time when my mom called to say there was white smoke. So I went downstairs and watched on the TV as they prepared to bring the new guy out. Dad came in and wanted me to run him in to town for a tire but I refused on the grounds that I had never seen this before (at least that I can remember since I was only 3 when John Paul II became Pope). And hoping the new guy wasn't one Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. I was a bit disappointed when it turned out to be him but resolved to make the best of it and hope that Benedict would be the leader the church needed. I was relieved too that we had a pope again.

[CountAllVotes]

5. on mIRC

Chatting with another member of the Catholic faith that lives in Holland when the smoke signal arose.

And then we had Benedict.

[CBHagman]

6. I was at work.

The two things I remember most about that were my supervisor, who was not even Catholic, informing me that the new pope was Benedict XVI, and my going over on DU and seeing that someone had written, "Oh, no, it's Ratzinger!" in one of the threads. I'm pretty certain it was a Catholic and Orthodox Christianity Group thread too.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

9. "Oh, no, it's Ratzinger!" was my reaction as well

And I saw nothing to change that reaction.

[UrbScotty]

7. I was at school - just weeks before I graduated from high school.

I didn't hear about it until I came home from school.

I was disappointed, but not surprised. It as just a few months after the 2004 Bush election, so it was a time when liberalism of all sorts - including liberalism within the Church and liberalism in terms of US politics (note the distinction between the two) - were at their nadir.

As the years unfolded, I certainly didn't agree with everything B16 did, but the fears that I had that day eight years ago turned out to be largely unfounded.

I hope he is having a good retirement.

[No Vested Interest]

8. I haven't the faintest idea where or what I was doing.

I accepted the fact of his election and hoped for the best.
Certainly he lacked the charisma of John Paul II, so never was particularly endearing.
But I'm inclined to not be too harsh on the clergy, since they're expected to be all things to all people, which is, of course, impossible.
I believe he did the right thing by resigning, and I accept the reasons at face value.

Hoping for the best from Pope Francis.

[Princess Turandot]

10. What I recall about it was the side-bar about his affinity for cats...

supposedly, stray cats followed him around whenever he would go for walks.

At one point, they apparently were worried that he would insist on bringing his own pet cat to the papal apartments but I think a relative of his took him.

I'm old enough to recall JP II's almost unbelievable election, following the shocking death of JP I. (Although I don't remember JP I's election itself at all.) My mother was of Polish descent and my childhood church had a largely Polish congregation. (St. Stanislaus, of course.) It was a very big deal!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

11. Didn't affect me directly as I'm not Catholic

But I have felt some affinity with the Catholic Church over the years and I did greatly admire and respect Pope John Paul II. Also it was the first papal conclave I'd experienced in my lifetime so it was of some interest to me.

It was early morning here and I was doing some temporary work for a social welfare agency. I got up even earlier than required for some reason that morning and learned that he had been chosen, if I remember accurately, after logging on to the Internet

It was just after Bush had been re-elected and also after our Bushbot Prime Minister here in Australia had been re-elected and I took his selection as Pope as yet another indication that we were descending down a depressing right wing path which would haunt us for a long time to come

As it turned out, though, I think my fears were completely unfounded. Certainly, there were areas where I disagreed with Pope Benedict and I was critical of some of his decisions but he proved a much better Pope than I had imagined he would be and he was actually surprisingly progressive in some areas. I wish him well in his retirement