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This past Tuesday, white smoke rose over the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Since that moment, a new pope has presided over the more than 1 billion members of the Catholic Church.

Now that the smoke has cleared, it’s worthwhile to take a close look at the new Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Ratzinger. I for one have to admit that I don’t entirely like what I see.

Even though it pleases me a little that the new pope comes from my home country, I strongly believe the Catholic church could have picked a better leader.

The first thing that struck me when I heard about his nomination was his age. Ratzinger was born in 1927. With his 78 years, he seems rather old to take up the post – even by church standards. In recent years, Ratzinger has repeatedly stated that he would like to retire. They should have let him.

A vital area in which the new pope will have to prove himself is in dialogue with the Islamic world. Ratzinger was quoted as saying that the possible European Union membership of Turkey, with its large Muslim population, would dilute the Christian culture of Europe. He thinks Turkey should instead align itself with other Muslim nations.

The relations between these two world religions, with all their social and political implications, need to be fostered. I doubt that Benedict will do that.

In The New York Times, Bishop Kevin Dowling, an official of the Southern African Bishops Conference, summarized the effect of the new pope: “For some who would be looking for strong, centralized control, an orthodox church focused on orthodoxy in the faith, those people I think will be very happy,” he said. “For people who were looking for a church that would be open to debate and discussing and reflecting on some of the crucial issues of modern times, those people may have concerns.”

The biggest problem a lot of people have with the new pope is his ultra-conservatism. While it makes him popular with conservative and traditional circles within the church, Catholics who are alienated by rusty institutionalism and antiquated moral teachings – like myself – have little to rejoice about.

For the past 24 years, Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern-day successor of the Inquisition. In this position, he rebuked numerous church officials and theologians who supposedly strayed from the right course.

The liberal Catholic theologian Hans Kung openly sparred with Ratzinger in the 1980s over issues like the infallibility of the pope. “Joseph Ratzinger is afraid,” Kung said in 1985. “And just like Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor, he fears nothing more than freedom.”

Ratzinger was also responsible for the dismissal of the theologians like Charles Curran, who doubted the church doctrines concerning birth control and homosexuality. These activities have earned him nicknames such as “God’s Rottweiler.”

Just on a side note, you can probably guess who wanted to exclude Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry from communion. Ratzinger wrote a letter to American bishops holding that a politician who supports abortion rights is not worthy of receiving Communion.

So if you’re a Catholic who voted for Kerry because you liked his pro-choice stance you are “guilty of formal cooperation in evil,” as Ratzinger wrote. It will be interesting to see if Ratzinger will try to influence politics even more now that he’s pope.

In its attitude toward gender, the Catholic church is still at the level of medieval times, and Ratzinger appears as a driving force behind this outlook. In 1986, he authored an all-out denunciation of homosexuality and gay marriage. As recently as 2004, Ratzinger attacked “radical feminism” and emphasized natural differences between men and women.

I have yet to hear a single sound argument for the de-facto discrimination of women in the Catholic church. Of course, people who follow Ratzinger’s school of thought validate it by the fact that Christ had only male apostles. But there’s considerable opposition, even within the Catholic church, against the categorical exclusion of women from church service.

Another field in which the message of the Vatican will be critical is the global AIDS pandemic. In Africa and South America, where the impact of AIDS is felt the hardest, the new pope was greeted with reserved optimism.

However, the term of Benedict XVI will probably fail to stand reality’s test in these regions. It’s easy for doctrinal conservatives in Rome to uphold the ban on condoms, but they are not providing any realistic alternatives for Catholics in affected areas.

On one issue, though, I do have to support the pope. The media have somewhat carelessly brought up his “Nazi past.” Ratzinger was a reluctant member in the Hitler Youth for a brief time after membership had become compulsive. He was drafted into the army in 1943 but deserted in 1945, and for several months he was a prisoner of war with the Americans.

To hold this episode of his life against the new pope is just not fair.

As a pope, Benedict XVI is still a blank slate. There is a chance that the religious and political importance of the papacy will loosen his uptight agenda. Let’s hope that, together with the name, he will leave some of the characteristics of Joseph Ratzinger behind.

If you want to blow off some (white) steam about the new pope, e-mail Starre at astarre@media.ucla.edu.