Pope's 1st Year Lacks An Ideological Edge

Centrist Approach Concerns Conservatives

Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, waves from a balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican after being elected by the conclave of cardinals in this April 19, 2005 file photo. Pope Benedict, a quiet, professorial type who was elected one year ago, has shown the world the gentle side of the man who was the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer for nearly a quarter of a century. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano-Arturo Mari/Files (Reuters Pool Photo)

One year ago, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stepped onto a balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, conservative Catholics rejoiced and liberals sulked.

Today, as Benedict marks his first anniversary as pope, the liberals are still unhappy. But so are some conservative activists.

"Among those who greatly admired Cardinal Ratzinger and were elated by his election as pope, there is a palpable uneasiness," the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, an influential conservative, wrote recently in the journal he edits, First Things.

Based on Ratzinger's 23-year record as a vociferous defender of orthodoxy as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Catholics on both sides of the debates over celibacy, homosexuality and the role of the laity expected him to lead a forced march toward ideological purity.

There has been a taste of that, most notably in Benedict's approval of a document saying men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" should not be ordained as priests. But, on the whole, the first year of his papacy has been surprisingly mild.

"He has not turned out to be the pope that many progressives feared and many conservatives cheered," said Christopher M. Bellitto, a church historian at Kean University in New Jersey.

For example:

· His first encyclical -- often considered a guide to the direction a pope intends to take -- was a gentle reflection on "God Is Love."

· Benedict has merged a few offices, but he has not undertaken a housecleaning of the Vatican bureaucracy, which is probably the fastest way for a pope to reshape the church.

· To the puzzlement of conservatives, Benedict chose the pragmatic archbishop of San Francisco, William J. Levada, as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Then, he named Bishop George H. Niederauer of Salt Lake City to succeed Levada in California, drawing howls from conservatives who believe that Niederauer is too "gay friendly," in Neuhaus's words.

"It's not just a question of what [Benedict] has done. It's a question of expectations, and here we are a year in and what he hasn't done," said Philip F. Lawler, editor of Catholic World News, a conservative news service. "When he was elected, there was an expectation from Catholics on all sides that he would be more of an activist, and that hasn't happened."

Those expectations mounted again last week as rumors circulated that the pope would allow priests to celebrate more frequently the Tridentine Mass, the centuries-old Latin liturgy that was replaced by Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council of 1962 to 1965.