Benedict XVI

Well, I never have gotten around to finishing out my post on JPII yet, but I am really astonished at the speed of the Conclave! It's a wonderful thing!

Couple of interesting things on the name:
1. St. Malachi's prophecy of "Glory of the Olives" (he Benedictine's are also known as Olivetians )?
2. St. Benedict prophecy that the last Pope would be a "Benedictine."

The name has, for me, connotations of the story of Benedict, namely for the caves.

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a nice little biography. Choice quotes:

The path continues to ascend, and the side of the ravine, on which it runs, becomes steeper, until we reach a cave above which the mountain now rises almost perpendicularly; while on the right hand it strikes in a rapid descent down to where, in St. Benedict's day, five hundred feet below, lay the blue waters of the lake. The cave has a large triangular-shaped opening and is about ten feet deep. On his way from Enfide, Benedict met a monk, Romanus, whose monastery was on the mountain above the cliff overhanging the cave. Romanus had discussed with Benedict the purpose which had brought him to Subiaco, and had given him the monk's habit. By his advice Benedict became a hermit and for three years, unknown to men, lived in this cave above the lake.

"For God's sake he deliberately chose the hardships of life and the weariness of labour"

... the community came to him and begged him to become its abbot. Benedict was acquainted with the life and discipline of the monastery, and knew that "their manners were diverse from his and therefore that they would never agree together: yet, at length, overcome with their entreaty, he gave his consent" The experiment failed; the monks tried to poison him, and he returned to his cave.

Supposedly, on EWTN they were expecting him to take the name Boniface.

What in the world prompted him to take Benedict?

Fatima, the Pope, and Revelations Chapter 12

One of the most interesting things I remember about the Pope is his proclamation that Our Lady of Fatima, is in fact the woman of Revelation Chapter 12, v 1. And he also said, if I remember correctly, that we are in the midst of v3 and 4. (Speech on May 13th, 2000 in Fatima)

Trying to locate a link to the speech, but until I do.. there's something interesting about this (NAB, usccb.org).

3 Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems.
4 Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.

More on this later..