WITH amazing speed and grace, the conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals elected former German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding the late beloved Pope John Paul II, his mentor and fellow conservative doctrinaire despite reaching out to other faiths in his 28-year papacy.

The new Pontiff’s election came as no surprise. Vatican watchers had him as a frontrunner as Pope John Paul’s successor, with broad hints that Pope Benedict XVI was the late Pope’s anointed. Although a vigorous defender of the faith, having been a prefect of the influential Congregation of Doctrine and Faith, he might pull some surprises, but to what extent remains to be seen.

An American priest-educator, who was delighted by the conclave’s choice, provided a flippant comment on the new Pope as a hardliner. A story goes, he told an interviewer, that a group of priests went to see God and asked Him about priests marrying. “Not in your lifetime,” God replied. Undeterred, the priests asked about women priests. “Not in my lifetime,” God shot back.

Religious and political leaders in the Philippines, Asia’s largest Catholic nation, warmly embraced the new supreme ruler of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics. That is hardly surprising. The Philippines and the Vatican share the same uncompromising stance on abortion, gay marriages, contraception and homosexuality.

In addition, divorce is outlawed in the Philippines, and there is no outside chance that this may change in the foreseeable future. But moderates are quietly chipping away at the religious hardliners, led by the powerful Catholic Church. Population control programs are both discouraged and disdained. A runaway birth growth, among the highest in the region at 2.2 percent annually, does not get the serious attention that it deserves.

In any case, Catholic Philippines will rally behind the new Pope, perhaps with the same ardor and fervor it admired and loved the late Pope John Paul II, who toured the Philippines twice, in 1981 and 1995.

None of the three Filipino cardinals took part in the recent conclave. Cardinal L. Sin, who knew the new Pope when they voted in the 1978 conclave, and Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, are both in frail health. A third, Jose Cardinal Sanchez, who is based in Rome, can’t vote because he is overage at 81.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, who has also met the new Pope during a Vatican trip, is certainly going to get a red hat during Pope Benedict’s watch, as well as other Filipino archbishops.

By all indications, the new Pope is eminently prepared to meet the challenges and perils of the Catholic Church.