Pope Benedict XVI a Conservative

As the white smoke rose in the Vatican and the church bells rang, another conservative was elected to lead the Catholic church. This may not sit especially well with the "relativism" arm of the church. An MSNBC piece said this:

A man of deep personal faith who choked up as he delivered the homily at
Pope John Paul II’s funeral, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger also has alienated some
Roman Catholics with his zeal in enforcing church orthodoxy.
And on those
issues, the new Pope Benedict XVI is immovable.

Now, Ol' BC is not a Catholic and in many ways probably can't relate to a large number of them on church issues. However, it seems to me, that this "relativism" group of the church sees themselves a progressives. The suggestions they make and their complaints lead Ol' BC to this conclusion - The progressives in the Catholic church kinda want to be Catholic but don't really want to have to abide by the rules and laws of the Church. It's kind of like someone wanting to be Christian ( which I know Catholics are), but not wanting the inconvenience of trying to live by the teachings of the Bible.

Many have said this will be a "transition" Pope. Ol' BC doesn't see much transition here. John Paul II and Benedict XVI seem to be cut out of the same cloth.

Just an observation.