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Students, faculty and the campus community expressed varied reactions to Tuesday’s announcement of Pope Benedict XVI as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

While some were disappointed by the election of a conservative pope, others found his expressed commitment to Catholic policies encouraging.

Those who were not pleased with the decision said they were concerned with the pope’s conservative stance on issues such as homosexuality and the role of women in the church.

Scott Bartchy, a history professor and director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, said the pope’s conservative policies mean the Catholic church will maintain its position against condoms, which he said will lead to the further spread of HIV.

In the 1960s, Bartchy was a faculty member at Tuebingen University in Germany, where the future pope also taught. At the time, student movements against the Vietnam War and the university caused the future pope to adopt conservative views.

The pope’s views and his past involvement in the German army may also hinder future interreligious dialogue, said Cynthia Yoshitomi, a campus minister.

Some said the pope’s conservatism might also cause a divide within the Catholic community.

While the youth liked Pope John Paul II, Yoshitomi said, she does not think that they will like the new pope or his position.

The pope’s views will also exacerbate the already existing tensions in Catholicism between different regions that practice the religion, said Carol Bakhos, a professor of near eastern languages and cultures.

“American Catholicism certainly isn’t monolithic, but ... relative to other parts of the world, it is progressive,” she said.

In addition, Bakhos said, the election of a pope from Europe surprised her because of the amount of discussion of electing a pope from Latin America or Africa.

But others were pleased that the new pope expressed his commitment to policies traditionally advocated by the Catholic church.

Martha Jameson, a third-year history student, said while she understood that the pope’s position could cause controversy, she admired his decision to stick by his beliefs.

“I really like the fact that he is a strong advocate of the Catholic doctrine,” she said.

Jameson is currently studying in Rome and was among the crowd congregated at St. Peter’s Basilica when the new pope made his first public appearance as leader of the Catholic church.

The pope’s decision to enforce Catholic doctrine also pleased Michael Rael, a second-year mathematics student and member of the Catholic Students Association.

But Rael also said he did not think that the points advocated in Catholic doctrine could be defined with political labels, saying that while some parts of the doctrine are conservative, such as the church’s stance on abortion, others, like its position on social justice, are progressive.