Well, Arinze is almost as conservative. At least he has a third-world heritage for it to come from, though.

I was hoping for one of the Latin American hopefuls, myself. (Well, except the Mexican guy, who once shut down a monastery because he thought it might be teaching Marxist ideas.) They were conservative theologically, but much more progressive socially. Personally, I don't care so much about the theology, but I'd like to see more interest in social problems. Of course, JPII was pretty interested in that stuff, at least as far as the second and third worlds went. And the Argentinian guy is a Jesuit. That would have been cool.

In fact, the other guy I liked was the Italian Jesuit.

Ah well. At least Ratzinger is already 78. He should be a short-lived Pope. Not that I wish for his death. Far from it. I'd just like to see less conservativism in one of the most influential organizations in the world.