The April 21 staff editorial about the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as the head of the Catholic Church claimed the conclave of cardinals missed the big picture. According to the editorial, the choice was a 'fateful decision' that prioritized doctrinal discipline in the West over more needy members in developing nations.

The election of Cardinal Ratzinger was a vote for continuity and, perhaps even more importantly, it was a vote for unity. It was not just about Western unity, or a deep-seated hope that Ratzinger could repair this morally declining part of the world. It was about being catholic — universal.

So far everything points to Pope Benedict's desire for unity in the church and in the world. For example, he gave his first homily as pope in Latin — the universal language of the Church. He could have presented the homily in any one of the several languages he knows, but by giving it in Latin he showed the universality of his position and the Church.

Once named pope, he could have moved into the papal apartments almost immediately. Instead, Pope Benedict opted to remain in the hotel where his brother cardinals were staying.

At his convocation mass Pope Benedict spoke specifically of the importance of unity. He asked those in attendance to pray to be servants of unity as Jesus had taught in the gospel. Pope Benedict did not do all of this with only the West in mind. He said his role as a shepherd is to lead all people out of the desert they find themselves living in. "And there are so many kinds of deserts. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love." Before we judge this pope on what we think he will and will not do, why don't we give him a chance to show us. I think we'll find Benedict will confront both the internal and external deserts in the world.

Katherine Hinderer is a senior in the College of Communication.

This viewpoint appeared in The Marquette Tribune on May 5 2005.