Pope Benedict is very much his own man
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II's death a year ago - April 2, 2005 - left many Roman Catholics expecting that their church would take an even harder, more conservative line if the College of Cardinals picked early favorite Joseph Ratzinger as the next pontiff.

They got Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI.

Yet the Vatican's German-born chief orthodoxy watchdog has hardly acted like the man saddled with the nickname "God's Rottweiler."

Instead, the faithful got a pope who rode around in St. Peter's Square in traditional papal headgear that resembled a Santa Claus hat. The man described as a "dour Bavarian" wrote his first encyclical on love.

That's not to say that Benedict has changed his doctrinal tune. On the contrary, he has reaffirmed church teaching on everything from sexuality to the sanctity of life. the rest