Almost three weeks after the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, the international council of cardinals selected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a close confidant of John Paul who is widely considered a hard-liner in terms of orthodoxy and doctrine, as the Roman Catholic Church’s 265th pontiff yesterday.

Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI, was confirmed after two days in one of the shortest conclaves in the past century. History Prof. Brian Porter, an expert on the Catholic Church, said he did not expect the announcement for several more days.

“It was fast. I was really surprised,” he said, adding that the speed of Benedict’s election shows that he had more support among the cardinals than originally thought.

Before being elected pope, Benedict served as dean of the College of Cardinals and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he enforced Catholic orthodoxy and kept dissenting theologians in line. With his reputation as one of the Vatican’s most outspoken critics of liberalism within the church, Benedict’s election has dismayed some liberal Catholics and others who had hoped for a pontiff more open to dissenting views.

While experts say Benedict is unlikely to budge on some of the social issues for which John Paul was criticized — such as the role of women in the church, priestly celibacy and birth control — some students still hope for flexibility on the church’s teachings.

“The one thing that I don’t like about the Catholic Church is that priests can’t get married,” said LSA freshman Kirsten Rose, a Catholic. “I’ve heard that’s an issue being raised in the Vatican, and hopefully that can change.”

In his homily at the convocation that began the conclave, Benedict spoke out against critics of traditionalism.

“Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism,” he said Monday. He went on to caution listeners against many secular ideologies, including agnosticism, atheism and relativism — the denial of the existence of absolute truth — saying that following these ideas is paramount to being “swept along by every wind of teaching.”

Despite this, Porter said the label of “conservative” is an inappropriate description of the new pontiff.

“Those labels are always really tricky when you’re talking about figures within the church,” he said. “On a lot of issues that we define as conservative within the United States, he wouldn’t fit that label. Certainly on issues of the poor, he is not conservative.”

However, within the context of the Catholic Church, Benedict is a traditionalist, Porter said.

“He’s not going be changing the policies of Pope John Paul II,” he said.

Some Catholic students are encouraged by the idea of Benedict continuing John Paul’s work.

Engineering senior Brian Reed, a Catholic who attends St. Mary’s Student Parish on Thompson Street, said he hopes the new pope picks up where John Paul left off. “I especially hope he continues encouraging youth and keeping the importance on the Eucharist where it belongs,” he said.

Elisabeth Mueller, also an Engineering senior and member of St. Mary’s, agreed, saying that although it will be a change to follow someone other than John Paul, Benedict’s traditionalism is not a problem.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to be legalistic, but the church should not be changing what they teach based on what society says,” Mueller said.

Other students were disappointed with the selection of the new pope, having hoped for the election of a pontiff who would pursue a more liberal stance on church doctrine concerning issues such as women’s rights.

RC sophomore Sara Curtin, a Catholic, said while she hoped for a more liberal pope, the election of a conservative pontiff was not unexpected.

“I would like to see a more liberal pope, but with the way the politics of the world are, I’m not surprised that they elected a more conservative cardinal to be pope,” she said. “I think they need to reconsider their stand on contraception and birth control methods … But I wish that they had made a different decision.”

Curtin added that she regrets that the church leadership does not do more to involve women in the church.

“The way things are looking, it looks like they are going to lessen the role of women in the church, and I wish they wouldn’t do that,” Curtin said.