Benedict XVI

"Good value for those looking to gamble, in my view, it Joseph Ratzinger (Germany) at 7-1; I reckon Ratzinger stands a far better chance than those odds suggest." - "Papal Bull," 5th April 2005.

Not wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, I reckon this wasnt a bad forecast - although I admit I only narrowed it down to 4 candidates. If only I was the gambling type...

So what does it all mean? Well at 78, Benedict (as he'll be known) won't be around for very long. But while he's around, the conservatism of JPII is likely to be preserved. More from my April 5th post:
Tettamanzi: a couple of sites suggest he might have been one of the authors of Humanae Vitae, the 1968 document which strongly condemned the use of contraception. Reuters reports that "he firmly backed" it. Whichever is the case, his views should be clear enough.
Ratzinger's "blunt judgments delight conservatives and outrage liberal Catholics." A close adviser to John Paul, he has "denounced sexual liberalism in the West."

More detail I'm certain in tomorrow's papers (or a good news website near you) but in brief, things look as though they will probably continue without too much disruption, which isn't much of a surprise.