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“According to the results of some opinion polls published by Croatian agencies it emerges that 70% of the population is happy about this choice”, says Father Zeljiko Tanjic, professor of fundamental theology at the University of Zagreb, in a briefing to SIR. Father Tanjic underlines the importance of the name chosen by the new Pope. […]

“We are very happy about the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as pope. We admire, in particular, his attention to spirituality and the liturgy”, says Msgr. Marian Gavenda in a comment to SIR, expressing all the satisfaction of the Slovak episcopate in the nomination of Benedict XVI. “Throughout the country – he says – the interest […]

“We consider it very significant that the new pontiff was elected on the day in which the Byzantine Church – according to the Julian calendar – celebrates the memory of St. Methodius, one of the two Apostles of the Slavs”, said the Apostolic Visitator for the Greek-Catholics of Belarus, Archimandrite Sergio Gajek, in a briefing […]

“The Catholics of Russia welcome the election of the new Pope with gratitude to God and hope, and consider him a great gift. They express to him their devotion and obedience. They see in him the good shepherd who will lead them into the new age, who will take care of them, and who will […]

The Swiss Bishops’ Conference, in a statement issued on Tuesday to announce the election of the new Pope to the country, “pledges its fidelity and prayer to the successor of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, and raises an invocation to God that the paths of Christian unity may increasingly converge”. “Habemus Papam” – we have a […]

The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference Msgr. Ricardo Blázquez and its general secretary Father Juan Antonio Martínez Camino have written a letter expressing their “complete and affectionate filial devotion” on behalf of all the bishops. The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has also expressed his wish to “maintain the historic relations between […]

The Catholic Church of Romania has also expressed its joy for the election of the new Pope. In the period preceding the Conclave the faithful prayed in all the country’s churches, while Romanian television carried live coverage from Rome of the moments of the white smoke billowing from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel and […]

“In a world beset by daunting challenges, such as the challenge of hunger and poverty, freedom and peace, the dignity of the person and the defence of life”, the new pontiff Benedict XVI “will be, after our beloved John Paul II, a sentinel of humanity, witness of God’s love for all people and the first […]

“Pope Benedict XVI will undoubtedly continue the same course followed by John Paul II to take still further forward the innovations of Vatican Council II, and to work for the Church at the service of the world”, declare the Dutch bishops in expressing their warm congratulations for the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope. […]

“A man of great spirituality, a wonde rful choice as Pontiff of the Catholic Church”, declared the Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien, expressing all his joy after the election of Benedict XVI. Present as an elector at the Conclave, the cardinal expressed the hope that “the new Pope would work for peace in the world following […]