His Holiness Benedict XVI
April 19, 2005

"The selection of Cardinal Ratzinger as the successor to John Paul II indicates clearly that the College of Cardinals wanted to continue the direction and the tremendous accomplishment of the past 27 years," said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson. "Like John Paul II, Benedict XVI is both a strong leader and a brilliant theologian. The cardinals could not have picked a person who was closer to John Paul II, personally and doctrinally, than the man who is now Pope Benedict XVI."