my view of benedict xvi

Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Cardinal Ratzinger) is one of the most heavy-handed conservatives in the Church today. He views the modern age as a "dictatorship of relativism". He has attacked clergy of whose politics he disapproved. He has excommunicated theologians who disagree with him. Protestant believers might be interested to know that Ratzinger promotes the Dominus Iesus declaration that "the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation". He claims that cloning is "a more dangerous threat than weapons of mass destruction." He has criticized the entire women's rights movement.

In 2001 Ratzinger was the one responsible for the despicable and ineffective policy of dealing with underage sexual molestation internally instead of cooperating with law enforcement. He tried to hide the problem by instructing the Church's internal investigators to keep silent. He was even involved in a cover-up of some abuses. When the stories did leak out he accused the media of running an anti-Catholic campaign. He claimed that the number of cases was blown out of proportion and that only a fraction of a percent of the Church's priests were involved. The truth eventually emerged that 1 out of every 25 priests was involved and the Church itself had confirmed about 7000 cases of sexual abuse (an additional 3000 cases could not be confirmed because the priests had since died). This prompts the question of whether Ratzinger was more interested in stopping abuse or stopping criticism of the Church. His concern with the Church's image extends to the Church's history. Even in his half-hearted attempt to acknowledge the Church's past sins he tried to shift the focus to the "cruelties of atheism".

Most notable, I think, is that Ratzinger treated dissenters more harshly than child-molesters. Do you think his priorities center around promoting Godliness or preserving the institution which gives him power? I don't understand how Catholics can believe that Ratzinger was chosen by God.