And the winner IS . . .

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the frontrunner in the "Name the Pope" contest, is now Pope Benedict XVI.

No real surprise, except that it only took a day.

Notes of interest: Cardinal Ratzinger is the second consecutive non-Italian pope after over four centuries of Italians. He is 78 years old (incidentally his birthday was only three days ago), so there will be no 26-year marathon pontificate like that of his predecessor.

Finally, like both the John Pauls who preceded him, Benedict XVI apparently preferring dignity over tradition, eschewed wearing a pineapple on his head when he greeted the crowd for the first time.

Postscript: My friend Warren just pointed out to me that Joseph Ratzinger's chosen name of "Benedict" is an obvious fulfillment (no doubt a self-fulfilling one) of the Prophecy of the Popes of St. Malachy, which I also mentioned in a post ten days ago.

Post-postscript: As can be expected, the usual idiots are throwing the requisite hissy fit.