LAT's Pope Analysis Hits Sweet Spot

I was ready to read an apologetic for the liberal factions in the Catholic Church, and a description of stark political intregue by the conservatives in today's multi-bylined LATimes analysis of the Cardinals' vote, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The second paragraph appeared to set up such a story ...

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger arrived with a solid base of votes that staved off the emergence of any real challenger, culminating a juggernaut of a campaign months in the making, cardinals and Vatican-watchers said Wednesday.

... but nothing that followed fleshed out the "juggernaut of a campaign months in the making" line. One wonders why it was there. Perhaps to reassure liberal LAT readers, who could then turn the page to the next story, reassured that their paper was still on their side?

What followed was a testimony to the popularity of John Paul II's and Ratzinger's policies, a slap on the hand to the media for speculating that Latin American Catholics might be upset by the selection, a clear picture of the weak position of European and American liberal Cardinals, and evidence the Holy Spirit was just as hard at work as the religio-political powerbrokers. Here's a preview, but you should read the entire piece:

"Ratzinger put nothing 'on sale' in order to be elected pope," Sandro Magister, a veteran Vatican watcher, wrote in an online column Wednesday. "The votes and consensus landed on him one after the other, month after month, scrutiny after scrutiny, attracted only by his agenda, hard as a diamond."

A telltale sign of his ascent took place at the funeral of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion and Liberation. The Mass in Milan's Duomo cathedral on Feb. 24 drew Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other notables.

Representing the ailing pope, Ratzinger presided over the funeral Mass instead of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Milan, against the expectations of some. Ratzinger's homily brought enthusiastic applause. The audience responded to remarks by Tettamanzi, a rival candidate for pope, with silence.