There was a chance this week for 115 Roman Catholic cardinals to choose a non-European successor to Pope John Paul II, to reflect the fact that more than three-quarters of their followers now live outside the old continent. But it was not to be.

Joseph Ratzinger is a German steeped in European thought. In choosing the name Benedict, after Europe's patron saint, he seems to suggest that is where he sees the church's greatest challenge during his Papacy.