http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=0J1NMOAFH2LVVQFIQMFCM5WAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2005/04/22/wpope22.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/04/22/ixworld.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=17118
Pope may have received the most votes ever By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 22/04/2005) Pope Benedict swept to victory in this week's Vatican conclave, winning the election by a landslide and receiving probably the most votes of any papal race in history, it was disclosed yesterday. Pope Benedict XVI Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who has taken the name of Pope Benedict XVI, was favoured by an overwhelming number of his fellow "Princes of the Church", said reports. The support for the German-born Cardinal was likely to have been no less than 90 and possibly 107 of the maximum 115 votes minus the winning candidate. If the higher figure were true, the new Pope achieved a backing even more overwhelming than his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. According to one report, however, in the first ballot the conservative Cardinal Ratzinger trailed the liberal standard-bearer, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. Only when the latter and other candidates withdrew did Pope Benedict win in the fourth ballot, making his election one of the two fastest in more than a century. In interviews Cardinals suggested that the result was a landslide. Obeying oaths not to divulge the secrets of the conclave under pain of excommunication, they did not reveal too many details. "We all felt that he was our brother with superior qualities," said Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna. The political manoeuvring before his victory seemed to gainsay the usual claims of Cardinals that the Holy Spirit alone had determined their choice of Benedict XVI. Other cardinals yesterday sought to depict the human side of the new Pope, notwithstanding his austere image as the previous Pope's intransigent enforcer of orthodoxy. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the Pope's image as a German "panzerkardinal" was unfair. "He is human and he will convince you," he said. "He is both a man of science and of faith. He possesses a great sense of humanity, he loves nature and music." The same churchman said that Cardinal Ratzinger was a cat lover. "Every time he met a cat, he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time," said Cardinal Bertone. "The cat would follow him. Once about 10 cats followed him into the Vatican and one of the Swiss Guards intervened, saying 'Look, your eminence, the cats are invading the Holy See'." Cardinal Achille Silvestrini said: "Pope Benedict XVI will not be Ratzinger.'' The election of a Pope "completely transforms a man''. As the Vatican began preparations for his investiture as Bishop of Rome in a Mass at St Peter's on Sunday, with 500,000 pilgrims and 150 foreign delegations expected to attend, the new Pope was already at work yesterday. He reconfirmed the same heads of the Curia, or Vatican civil service, as those in place when Pope John Paul II died on April 2. Among them was the secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. It was not clear, however, who would take over the Vatican's key doctrinal authority, which had been run by Cardinal Ratzinger. Belgian reports said his successor could be Mgr André Mutien Leonard, 64, Bishop of Namur. -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England
